R: Indigenous health 4 - Disappearing, displaced, and undervalued: a call to action for Indigenous health worldwide. Lancet 2006

“What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of diff erences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing diff erences and peculiarities, by eliminating diff erent civilisations and cultures, progress weakens life and favours death. The ideal of a single civilisation for everyone implicit in the cult of progress and technique, impoverishes and mutilates us. Every view of the world that becomes extinct, every culture that disappears, diminishes a possibility of life!”1 Indigenous peoples are the most potent example of our human diversity of culture, language, and spirit; yet they are often disadvantaged and marginalised. Who are the Indigenous and why do they have the worst health indicators? How can their health situation be improved? This fi nal paper in the series on the health of Indigenous peoples addresses the complexity of the term Indigenous, describes the poor health indicators of such people, and helps to put Indigenous health into an international context. We discuss the importance of Indigenous peoples