Universal child benefit needed, say experts | Northland News | Local News in Northland

Almost half of Northland's children are living on or below the poverty line figures show and a poverty action group says a universal child benefit is needed to tackle the problem.

Whangarei Child Poverty Action Group spokeswoman Ngaire Rae said nationally 22 per cent of children were living in poverty, but the figure was even higher for Northland, where 49 per cent of children were identified as being born in the bottom two most-deprived deciles.

That is the highest child poverty rate in the country.

Poverty had a direct link to poor health, a situation backed up by Northland's appalling rates of so-called Third World child health issues, Ms Rae said.

She said 20 per cent of children in Northland were living in crowded households, but that rose to 40 per cent in the poorest areas of the region.

"Poverty, overcrowding and lack of nutritious food all impact on our children's health," she said. "In Northland, we have some shameful child health statistics."

Ms Rae said the hospital admission rate in Northland for serious bacterial infections, including skin infections and meningitis, was 628 per 100,000, compared to 429 nationally.

"For Northland Maori children the rate is 1000 per 100,000. In 2010, the Northland rate for acute rheumatic fever was nearly three times the national rate," she said.

"Rheumatic fever in children can lead to chronic heart disease later in life. A recent study in Kaitaia found one child in every 100 had evidence of heart damage caused by rheumatic fever.

"If you get these diseases of poverty when you are young, even if you become rich later in life you can't undo the damage."

Ms Rae said the public needed to lobby MPs to make policies to bring people out of the poverty trap.

"Child poverty can be fixed. The Government could introduce a universal child benefit to ensure low-income families did not have to miss out," she said.

"Nobody chooses to live in poverty and we need to ensure there's more income for those families that are struggling."

Ms Rae said studies from overseas showed that, when there was an increase in a benefit, it was not spent on luxuries but on more food and clothing.