Each year the health board saw "a handful" of new cases of rheumatic fever in children and young people, she said.
"Rheumatic fever can result in lifelong cardiac valve damage."
Some children with rheumatic fever require surgery in childhood while others needed surgery in adulthood.
"This is an unnecessary outcome for the majority of people who get it - in countries where housing standards are higher and poverty is not an issue, the illness has almost completely disappeared."
She said 50 per cent of the illnesses were also preventable if children with sore throats from a Group A Streptococcus were seen and treated as soon as possible and completed their antibiotic course, which is why significant resource had been put into community education and trying to ensure that the health system responded well to the sore throat problem.
She said additional funding would almost certainly be used for that, but the problem was unlikely to be resolved permanently until the underlying issues were addressed.
Dr Coleman said the fund targeted the six district health board regions where most of the
Maori rheumatic fever cases occurred - Northland, Counties Manukau, Waikato, Lakes, Bay of Plenty and Tairawhiti.
"These DHBs will distribute funding to Maori community groups for small-scale initiatives to test innovative solutions for increasing awareness and helping to prevent rheumatic fever.
"Community groups are expected to start delivering initiatives from July through to October."
