A Northland health expert is calling for free primary health care to be extended to the age of 18 after the release of a report noting 270,000 children are living in poverty without adequate income or housing.
Northland children under 6 now receive free GP treatment, but Manaia PHO chief executive Chris Farrelly said parents with older children could not always afford primary health care as costs involved were often high.
He was commenting on a Unicef New Zealand report, Kids Missing Out, which says that 20 years after New Zealand ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Uncroc) this country still has considerable work to do to meet its obligations.
Unicef New Zealand advocacy manager Deborah Morris-Travers says the report found that despite this country's promise to uphold children's rights, there have been significant increases in infectious diseases in children, high rates of child maltreatment, children hurt while working, children detained in police cells and tried in the adult justice system, and significant inequalities between different groups of children.
"New Zealand has failed to incorporate Uncroc into its domestic law, or given priority to addressing child poverty," she said.
Unicef New Zealand executive director Dennis McKinlay says policies like Working for Families should be expanded to reach the children not now receiving adequate support.
The report, using information from a Ministry of Health survey last year, says primary health organisations in some parts of the country, particularly Northland, are concerned about the number of children not collecting prescriptions due to cost.
Unfilled prescriptions due to cost were much more common among Maori and Pacific children, and children living in more deprived areas.
Mr Farrelly said organisations such as the Manaia PHO, Northland District Health Board and the Whangarei Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) had taken steps to address child poverty in the region.
Measures taken included making primary health care for the under-6 free, a food in schools programme and helping insulate 5600 homes.
"We've seen the benefits of free health care for under-6s and now the big issue which we must address with urgency is extending that to those up to the age of 18," Mr Farrelly said.
There had been a five-fold increase in people seeking emergency funding from Manaia PHO for prescriptions since charges increased from $3 to $5 in January this year, he said.
Last year, CPAG prepared "Empty Food Baskets: Food Poverty in Whangarei", which looked at poverty in the district and found that at least 1793 children in Whangarei - 33 per cent of students attending the decile 1-4 schools - received food assistance weekly.