"We have different services to try and level up the playing field, and taking that away always leads to a disaster" - Dr Anneka Anderson. Photo: 123RF
- Report shows Pasifika children are 115 times more likely to be hospitalised with acute rheumatic fever than European kids
- Hospitalisation rates for respiratory conditions in children under 1 have increased 44 percent over the past two decades
- Dr Anneka Anderson says "one-size-fits-all" approach ignores evidence and will worsen inequity in child health outcomes
Cure Kids says a new study shows Pasifika children in Aotearoa are 115 times more likely to be hospitalised with acute rheumatic fever than European children.
The fourth State of Child Health Report showed Pasifika, Māori and children in low socio-economic areas were disproportionately affected by respiratory conditions, rheumatic fever and heart disease, skin infections, dental disease and mental health problems.
Cure Kids head Frances Soutter said urgent national action was needed to ensure all tamariki and rangatahi had access to proper healthcare, housing and nutrition to reverse the trend.
"Too many of our children are experiencing preventable illnesses, with the burden falling disproportionately on Māori, Pasifika, and those living in areas of high deprivation. By targeting these risk factors, we can reverse these trends and generate long-term benefits for New Zealand's population that far exceed the initial costs," Soutter said.
The report - developed in collaboration with the NZ Child and Youth Epidemiology Service at the University of Otago - showed a 44 percent increase in the number of children under a year old being hospitalised with respiratory problems over the last 20 years.
It said respiratory conditions were the leading cause of acute hospitalisations for children, with infants under one year being particularly vulnerable.
The University of Auckland's Dr Anneka Anderson said the study was a "huge wake-up call" that more needed to be done to address poverty and poor living conditions and break down barriers to healthcare.
She said a one-size-fits-all approach to health would only make matters worse.
"Saying that we should treat everyone the same actually promotes inequity. It's a bit like saying we shouldn't have special carparks for non able-bodied people.
"We have different services to try and level up the playing field, and taking that away always leads to a disaster."
Dr Anneka Anderson. Photo: University of Auckland / Supplied
She said the Covid-19 pandemic had provided an ideal case study to show the power of tailoring a health response towards ethnic and cultural groups.
"The government responded with a one-size-fits-all approach and we saw huge differences in vaccine uptake for Māori than for non-Māori. As soon as the control and resources were handed back to Māori providers - to provide a 'for Māori, by Māori' service - we saw the uptake increase.
"So we see that this rhetoric that ethnicity doesn't count and shouldn't be taken into account for different health services hasn't worked in the past, and there's no way it's going to work in the future."
Anderson said - in addition to working to address poverty and basic living wages - health services needed to be designed with a "rights based lens" to cut the inequities across the population.
"We live in such a resource rich country. [Typically] in low economic countries we see these high rates of rheumatic heart disease. In Aotearoa we shouldn't be seeing those. This is a completely preventable disease. So it shouldn't be there and I think the fact that it is there is a huge wake-up call that we're not doing things right."
