Stuart Dalziel: Cure Kids Chair of Child Health at Auckland University on the increase in children being hospitalised for preventable diseases

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

More children in this country are being hospitalised for preventable diseases.

A new Cure Kids report reveals hospital admissions for respiratory, skin and rheumatic conditions, mental health issues and dental diseases, remain unacceptably high.

It identifies social factors —like child poverty, housing conditions and inequitable access to care— as key drivers, and notes Māori and Pasifika children are disproportionately affected.

Chair of Child Health at Auckland University Stuart Dalziel told Ryan Bridge that we need to look at which children we’re failing, and if there is a failing on the basis of race, we need to ask why.

He said that the answer may not be specifically race-targeted policy, but there does need to be policy, and we need to be very clear about where there is failings so they can be corrected.

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