One in five Kiwi children are now being raised in households reliant on benefits, sparking fears that children are “starving in the age of the recession”. The number of children living with beneficiaries is up 15,000 in the past year to 226,000 in April 2009. The rise has concerned doctors, child welfare groups and academics, who say living with beneficiaries increases the risk of leaving school early and health effects including hospital admissions and deaths.

They have set up an annual checklist to monitor the situation. The Social Health Monitor, to be launched at the Paediatric Society annual conference in Hamilton today, will track the effects of the economic downturn on child health and poverty.

It shows the number of children reliant on a benefit recipient has fallen since 2000 but is likely to rise in the near future and says the benefit set-up will be unable to protect many children from severe or significant hardship – including more hospital admissions and deaths. It also points to long-term effects such as leaving school without qualifications.

New Zealand Child and Youth Epidemiology Service director Elizabeth Craig, a public health physician in Dunedin, said it was expected a range of health conditions among children would deteriorate after the recession. “Tracking them would be critical to quickly alert relevant authorities,” she said. “If we find that child health outcomes are deteriorating, this will be brought to the attention of policymakers so that appropriate responses can be implemented.”

Wellington Hospital paediatrician Brendon Bowkett said child health was “a basketcase well before the recession”. While supportive of moves to tackle the problem, he said easy access to free medical assessments for sick kids in poorer areas was vital. “It’s not just the cost, it’s the perception of cost. Even if something is free, it’s the perception that it may cost,” he said. “When poverty is fixed then you can charge poor children to be assessed.”

He cited a case where a child in Porirua developed a sore throat on a Friday, but was not seen by a doctor till Monday – in which time the child developed rheumatic fever.

In July, Dr Bowkett said hospital admissions for children cost an average of $4000 to $6000 each and forced hospitals to postpone or cancel non-urgent paediatric operations for grommets, tonsils and hernias. About a dozen people a day are being treated for skin infections at a Porirua clinic – a “cataclysmic” rate.

Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett said living on welfare was difficult for many families and the global economic downturn this year had seen more people reliant on the state for financial assistance. New Zealand had a generous welfare system compared to many other countries.

The three-day conference, themed “Starving in the Age of Recession”, will feature presentations on the affordability of nutritious food, Maori health, and international health strategies.

Healthcare is a Luxury
Single mum Deb Kilkelly says she has frequently resisted taking her 14-month-old daughter Natalie to the doctor because the money to pay “just wasn’t there”.

The 23-year-old from Paraparaumu, whose main income is the domestic purposes benefit, said medical care for children aged under five was meant to be free but doctors could charge an “administration fee”.

At her local GP that fee is $11, which she said “isn’t much” but after bills she was only left with about $10 of spending money each week.

The base rate for the DBP is $272.70 a week after tax.

“It’s really not fun, kids under five are supposed to be free.”

When Natalie contracted chickenpox on a Saturday, Miss Kilkelly had to pay $37 to see the health centre at the weekend.

“My dad paid for a lot of stuff, not everyone has that luxury. My friend has an $80 doctor bill that she can’t pay. The money’s just not there.

“I’ve had weeks I’ve just eaten toast.”

Miss Kilkelly said free healthcare for under fives would change how she would decide about trips to the doctor.

“I would stop hesitating to take her [Natalie] to the doctor when something’s wrong.”

Miss Kilkelly, who used to work in IT in Wellington, said she had to pay for a landline because places like IRD and Work and Income would not take calls from mobiles.

Her internet connection was her “one vice” and after spending $70 a week on food and nappies, she had about $10 left for clothing or extra food. “Things always crop up.”

State of Kiwi Children

• One in five children is already reliant on benefit recipients. The impact of further unemployment, which is likely to keep rising in the short to medium term, will therefore start from a “high baseline”.
• A study of children born in 1993 and followed through to 2000 (when unemployment rates were similar to those predicted for the next 18 months) found 54 per cent were reliant, at some point, on a benefit.
• The 2004 NZ Living Standards Survey suggested 58 per cent of families with children who relied on benefits were living in severe or significant hardship, compared with 12 per cent of families receiving market income. Severe or significant hardship was associated with children not having suitable wet weather gear or shoes, and postponing visits to the doctor.
• New Zealand children have a lot of hospital admissions. Asthma, bronchiolitis and gastroenteritis are the main medical reasons.
• Longitudinal studies suggest that 4-10 per cent of children are physically abused and 11-20 per cent sexually abused.
• In the past five years, hospital admissions for injuries arising from assault, neglect or maltreatment were significantly higher for boys living in the most deprived areas. Source: New Zealand Children’s Social Health Monitor 2009

Source: Greer McDonald – The Dominion Post

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