By Phil Mercer
BBC correspondent in Sydney |
 Many Aboriginal communities have been left in ruins |
An influential aid organisation says the health of many indigenous Australians is worse than that of people in the developing world. The Fred Hollows Foundations is demanding an emergency summit to address the problem.
Australia's Aborigines are the most disadvantaged group in the country.
Poverty, drug-addiction and unemployment have left many communities in ruins.
Millions of dollars have been spent over the years trying to reverse the inequalities.
Forgotten diseases
The Fred Hollows Foundation says that in many areas such assistance has not made much difference.
It insists malnutrition among young Aborigines is on a par with children in some of the world's poorest countries, including the Sudan and Sierra Leone.
Fred Hollows was a doctor from New Zealand. In the late 1960s, he began to examine Aborigines in Australia's Northern Territory.
He said the diseases he encountered were like something out of a medical history book which had not been seen in Western society for generations.
More than three decades later, the aid organisation he founded says indigenous health standards are still going backwards.
The Australian government says spending on health care for Aborigines is now at record levels, and positive results have been achieved.
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