Rheumatic fever is seriously debilitating illness: gone untreated, it can reduce a person's life expectancy by approximately 15 years.
But a new study in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health shows treatment for the illness is often hard to access, untargeted, and not as racially sensitive as it should be.
The study's lead author, Auckland University's Dr Anneke Anderson, joins us to talk about the implications, and what needs to happen.
Rheumatic fever Photo: 123rf.com
