Aboriginal children in north-west Queensland are being diagnosed with some of the highest rates of lung infections in the world.
That's according to a new report published in the Australian Medical Journal.
It says Indigenous children under-15 years-old are up to eight times more likely to be hospitalised with pneumonia or other bronchial infections than non-indigenous ones.
Report co-author John Whitehall, a professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Western Sydney, says lack of doctors in the Mount Isa and remote Aboriginal communities is a significant factor.
Professor Whitehall told Queensland correspondent Stefan Armbruster that Close The Gap strategies in the region are not working.
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