Rural health in spotlight

Simone Roberts

Patrick Ball, Professor of Rural Pharmacy at Charles Sturt University (CSU), is one of three key researchers behind the blueprint, being developed to address the poorer health outcomes currently experienced by rural Australians. It will also provide a framework to guide the provision of services into rural areas.

The blueprint proposes a set of principles developed from a human rights standpoint.Professor Ball said if health and wellbeing was enshrined as a human right, communities would be able to ask whether they have what they need to ensure good health.

"It seems that most health services in the Australian rural and remote setting have been provided on historical precedence or who successfully lobbied for it. You can look at two similar communities 30 kilometres apart and they've got quite different services. So we thought, why not define health and wellbeing as a human right and say, 'what do you have to provide to allow people to achieve their human right?'"

The researchers said if the blueprint principles were acted on by government, non-government agencies, academics and local communities then the rural health situation would immediately improve.

Prof Ball said community pharmacy would have a crucial role to play in implementing the principles.

"There is huge potential for pharmacy in a preventive role, preventing people becoming sick and helping people live with chronic disease," he said.

"At the moment the focus is on letting people get sick and then fixing them. We want to turn that on its head. In one extreme example, there's a community in China where you pay the doctor while you're well and you stop paying them when you’re sick. We need to embrace a similar philosophy to keep people well."

The team is working on case studies that will demonstrate the improvement in rural health if the principles are upheld. It is also developing a checklist tool to help communities identify which resources and services they require.