An outback ringer has become the face of Year of the Aboriginal Health Worker.

Jack Little was working as a ringer for Limbunya, Waterloo and Kildirk stations in 1959, when asked if he wanted to become a health worker.

“I said: 'I didn’t go to school, I’m only a ringer'…so I became a health worker anyway,” he said.

Mr Little went on to become one of the true legends of Aboriginal primary health care in the Northern Territory, helping to establish the Katherine West Health Board.

“It’s a hard road we were travelling; it was so hard. It wasn’t easy for us to learn about health and medications but I got there.”

Mr Little is one of the patrons for Year of the Aboriginal Health Worker, which was launched to recognise the group of allied health professionals who have been at the centre of the Aboriginal primary health care system, as registered health practitioners, for the past three decades.

There are more than 280 Aboriginal health workers in the Territory who care for their own people and help improve their health.

But statistics show the number of Aboriginal health workers has dropped by 30 percent in the last decade while 76 percent of the profession is over the age of 40.

Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) board member Paula Arnol said more needed to be done to secure the future of Aboriginal health workers.

“We have a profession that is acknowledged as a key to improving the health of our people that is collapsing because no-one will take responsibility for properly resourcing the training of Aboriginal health workers,” she said.

Ms Arnol said more than 30 new Aboriginal health worker graduates a year are needed.