Rural health research: What sort of investment is needed?

摘要

Walking through Sydney over Christmas I came face to face with an enormous new biomedical research centre provided by a generous benefactor to contribute to the global fight against cancer. Regardless of politics, I was encouraged by the generosity of the donor and wondered whether similar investments would contribute to addressing the poor outcomes in rural and Indigenous health. I notice that the National Rural Health Alliance has toned down its requests to government for a National Rural Health Research Institute to an annual research allocation to the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute of $500 000 per annum dedicated to rural health research. The thorny question that arises in my mind is what sort of investment(s) will make a difference to the health of rural and remote residents. The recent history of Australian health policy suggests a simple theory is at work in the minds of policymakers and rural residents: more doctors in the bush means better rural health.