Leading the way on poor child welfare

from The Gisbourne Herald

by Nicola Brennan

NEW Zealand has been placed at the bottom of a list of 25 developed countries for keeping its children safe, and in the bottom third when it comes to many child welfare indicators — something seen at its worst on many counts in this district.

A joint Unicef/Innocenti Research Centre report, released yesterday, rates New Zealand last out of 25 OECD nations in its child safety record, with poorer countries like Poland and Hungary receiving better rankings.

The Government is defending itself against the report, saying it draws on 2001 data and that things have changed since then.

The report has left child advocate groups irritated, with calls for the Government to do more.

Child Poverty Action Group health spokeswoman Dr Nikki Turner told NZPA there was a very well-established link between high levels of inequality and poor child health.

The health consequences of exposure to poverty in childhood included infectious diseases such as meningococcal B, respiratory diseases, serious skin diseases and obesity.

A growing youth obesity problem has been highlighted by Gisborne health workers time and time again.

The rate of obesity in Tairawhiti is 27 percent — significantly higher than the national average — and with the majority of the district’s population aged under 19 (33 percent according to Census 2006 figures), a growing number of young people are presenting with the problem.

Gisborne Hospital staff have seen an increasing number of young people developing Type 2 diabetes as a result.

New Zealand was ranked 25th out of 25 in the number of children who die from accident and injury, a situation mirrored in Gisborne.

This region has had one of the highest rates of children injured in cycle accidents in the country over the past four years, with one death and several serious injuries for children aged 11 to 14 last year alone.

Gisborne has the third highest youth suicide rate in the country.

The district also has a high rate of teenage pregnancy, another dimension the report ranked New Zealand poorly on (second from the bottom for births by women aged 15 to 19).

Out of 689 births at Gisborne Hospital in 2004/05, 80 (12 percent) were by mums aged 14 to 19; 58 (73 percent) of those were Maori mums.

A 2001 assessment of health needs in the Tairawhiti District Health Board region showed the teenage fertility rate in Tairawhiti was nearly double the national norm.

The report ranks New Zealand 16th in terms of general well-being of children, something Gisborne’s public health group manager Tom Scott has highlighted as a major problem in Tairawhiti.

In a report to the hospital’s advisory committee last October, Mr Scott said child poverty was clearly apparent here, with some children unable to afford school trips and much-needed resources.

Children continued to turn up to school without lunch and parents were unable to afford glasses for their children or to treat head lice and sores because of the cost of a doctor’s visit and/or medications.

Gisborne has been given high priority by the Government in the past because of the poverty rate here, with 10 of the district’s schools being selected for the first phase of its fruit in schools programme.

The school communities were ranked as some of the poorest in the country.