Meteria Turei

Wellington, June 4 NZPA - New Zealand is good for the rich kids, not the poor ones, a new report says.

The Best Start in Life report by the Public Health Advisory Committee said New Zealand was thought of as a great place for children. This was true -- "if a child's family is employed, has a good income, lives in a dry, warm house and is well educated, and the child is loved, nurtured and well cared for," the report said.

"Unfortunately, this is not the reality for many New Zealand children."

It said those from Maori and Pacific and low income families and those whose parents were beneficiaries or prisoners had worse health than other children, the report said.

The infant mortality rate in well-off neighbourhoods was comparable to the best performing countries such as Norway and Japan while those in poorer areas had rates worse than all but two -- Mexico and Turkey -- OECD countries.

Income was one of the biggest influences on health.

"Differences in child wellbeing are more extreme in societies with greater income inequality and a higher percentage of children living in poverty," the report said.

A 2009 OECD report ranked New Zealand 29th out of 30 countries for child health and safety.

Child health was important because the first six years of a person's life shaped their adult life and "unhealthy children become unhealthy adults", the Best Start Life report said.

The gap between rich and poor families was attributed, in part, to low government early childhood spending -- less than half the OECD average.

The report defined early childhood spending as expenditure on education, in-kind benefits, childcare, cash benefits and tax breaks, but not health spending.

Even when health was included, New Zealand's expenditure, by age, was lowest for children from just after birth until five.

New Zealand's investment in children over six, teens, adults and older people compared well internationally.

"Spending on people in the last two years of their lives is five times greater than the investment in early childhood."

Good programmes exist here but delivery was "problematic".

New Zealand was not alone in the problems it faced. Overseas governments faced similar challenges but made "dramatic changes" to the way the invested in and addressed child health and wellbeing.

The report recommended New Zealand create overarching legislation, a Children's Act, to replace current legislation which focused on single issues.

It also recommended a Children's Minister be created and an Office for Children be established to support the new minister.

A "whole-of-government approach", strengthened leadership and integrated services were needed to improve child health in New Zealand.

The report also suggested good monitoring to ensure improvement was made.

Sustained investment in the early years and an increased proportion of health sector spending on services for children under six were also needed, it said.

The Ministry of Health must work towards "free, 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week primary health care for all children aged under six years".

While children's health was primarily the responsibility of parents and families, governments must do their part to ensure the best outcomes for children, the report said.

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said last month's budget was going to make the situation worse -- a GST increase that would put pressure on low income families, tax cuts that would widen the gap between rich and poor, and funding cuts would increase the cost of early childhood education.