ABC News, 17/03/2018
Some sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise in Western Australia, with Aboriginal communities in the north hit particularly hard by a syphilis outbreak.
Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid said Aboriginal people in the north had been failed.
“It’s really sad that we’ve actually had and outbreak of syphilis that started in north Queensland that’s gone right across the north of Australia, through the Northern Territory and into the Kimberley through our Aboriginal populations,” Dr Khorshid said.
“In this day and age, in a medical system that’s had a cure for that condition for many decades, the fact we are still seeing an outbreak of such an easily treated infectious disease really says a lot about our failure as a community to deal with the health issues in our Aboriginal communities.”