Australian Medical Association president Andrew Pesce issued yesterday the organisation's annual ''report card'' on indigenous health which highlighted the situation for men.

''Indigenous males are much more likely to die earlier from preventable causes than non-indigenous males and indigenous females,'' he said.

''At every age, from boyhood to manhood, indigenous males experience higher rates of diseases and conditions that are totally preventable.''

An indigenous boy born in 2005-07 could expect to die aged 67, 11.5 years sooner than a non-indigenous boy.

The life expectancy was 73 years for indigenous girls born in the same period.

Indigenous males were more likely to die in the first year of their life.

Indigenous males were twice as likely to need hospital treatment for mental health and behavioural disorders than their non-indigenous counterparts.

Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke, was the leading cause of preventable deaths among indigenous males, accounting for 27 per cent of all deaths in 2002-05.

Dr Pesce called for action. ''There is evidence that the loss of status, self-esteem and sense of purpose experienced by many indigenous men is intimately bound up with their poor health as both a cause and an effect,'' he said.

''The absence of these things has had profound implications for the health of indigenous men, who may have also lost their connection to their country, their language, and their spirit.''

Dr Pesce proposed a national plan including $16.5 million annually to train 430 doctors to work in communities. There should be $10 million annually available for non-government organisations to run programs to address problems such as violent behaviour and self-harm.

Up to $500million annually should be spent to allow Aboriginal Medical Services to employ doctors and offer mentoring and training opportunities for medical students, vocational trainees and people studying nursing, dentistry, allied health and psychology.