How can the decline in the rural health workforce be stopped?

DOCTORS and medical specialists have been in short supply but high demand in country Victoria for four decades, writes Deb Anderson in The Age.

Deakin University hopes to help turn the tide with a new Regional Community Health Hub, dubbed REACH.

The $50 million project, due for completion late next year, will be linked to the university's medical school in Geelong.

According to the Dean of Deakin's health faculty, John Catford, the hub will target the myriad underlying socio-economic and geographic challenges in order to recruit, train and keep health workers in country areas.

• Read the full interview in The Age
• Professor John Catford