Indigenous peoples' health 'at risk'

By Ania Lichtarowicz
BBC health reporter

Urgent action is needed to improve the health of the world's indigenous people, according to a new report.

Many indigenous people feel ignored and marginalised

The study - published to mark the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples - says that a decade-long United Nations campaign to promote the rights of these people has brought little improvement.

Poor access to safe clean water, sanitation and health services are just a few of the many problems highlighted in the report, jointly-published by the British-based charity Health Unlimited and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The UN broadly defines indigenous people as descendants of those who inhabited land which was then taken over by people from a different ethnic origin.

The latest report has found that indigenous people - who mostly live in remote areas too costly to be reached by services - still feel ignored and marginalised.

They say they are discriminated against by health staff and the environments in which they live are increasingly destroyed.

The report says more effort is needed to integrate their rights of indigenous people in international and health agendas.

But this remains a tall order. The International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples is already in its ninth year and according to Health Unlimited, little has been accomplished to improve the well-being of these people.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has paid tribute to indigenous peoples to mark the international day.

He said that they had much to be proud of, but warned that they still faced threats to their beliefs, cultures, languages and ways of life.