The Government is being urged to act now on child poverty rather than waiting for the economy to improve.

The number of children admitted to hospital with conditions that can be related to poverty has declined, but experts warn about problems with children's health.

Northland has the highest rates of rheumatic fever in the country and last week visiting US expert Dr Stanford Shulman met health professionals to help with solutions.

Two important points appear to be missing from the debate about child poverty.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett says she left a meeting with hunger striker Sam Kuha with respect for the man and his passion for the problem of child poverty.

Here's a quick quiz. You are a child. Who is most likely to kill you. Your mum? Your dad? Stepdad? Rodney Hide says police have the answer.

Newborns and unborn babies in later pregnancy have been dying in South Auckland at a higher rate than the national average for most of the past decade.

A medical leader has hit out at New Zealand's "shameful and intolerable" rate of rheumatic fever, a Third World disease associated with child poverty and overcrowding.

Good policies require good information, not prejudices and ill-informed judgments expressed from the sideline, writes Michael O'Brien.

"Paula Bennett is right when she says poverty isn't an excuse for child abuse," writes Tapu Misa. "There is no excuse for child abuse."

Successive governments have failed utterly to deal with child poverty but now is the perfect time for local Auckland communities to work together, writes Catriona MacLennan.

If child-support payments were made directly to the household, not the state, non-custodial parents would be more likely to meet their responsibilities.

Children in homes with prepaid power meters risk developing bronchial illnesses because many families run out of cash to keep the meters topped up, experts say.

Jonathan Boston exposes three popular 'myths' about the current levels of child poverty in New Zealand, including that it is all the fault of the parents involved.

Most of us hate talking about poverty. Last week the media swooned over a fundraising campaign by Kiwis who tried to live on a couple of bucks a day, now Matt McCarten gives his view.

Food programmes for hungry Kiwi schoolchildren may soon get a boost from the Government to top off an overwhelming public response to recent media appeals.

Good teachers matter, but the problem with conflating education and poverty is that the focus can narrow unhelpfully on one piece of the puzzle, writes Tapu Misa.

More than 1400 New Zealanders attempted to make do with only $2.25 worth of food and drink for each of five days.