CHILD POVERTY IN
AOTEAROA/NEW
Sue
Gasquoine
was
recently
appointed as Nursing Policy Adviser/
Researcher to the Professional
Services Team at the New Zealand
Nurse Organisation (NZNO).
ZEALAND
Sue Gasquoine, Nursing Policy
Adviser/Researcher,
New Zealand Nurse
Organisation (NZNO)
“Child poverty is fixable but it’s
expensive…
Simply fixing
children up when they come
into the health system, then
sending them back to the same
conditions that caused their
health problem in the first
place is not good enough.”
(Turner, 2017)
Turner repeated this message
at the NZNO Auckland Regional
Convention in April and
reminded delegates that it is
election year.
Why does child poverty matter
so much?
Poverty in childhood affects
their whole life
every health outcome
educational outcomes
secure relationships
future jobs and income
The internationally renowned
Dunedin
Multidisciplinary
Health and Development
June 2017 L.O.G.I.C
Prior to this I worked in nursing education
teaching child health and research to undergraduate and postgraduate
students of nursing. Research interests include online professionalism, inter-
professional education, child health and stroke. Qualifications: RN, MPhil
(Hons)
Research Unit concludes “…
tackling
the
effects
of
childhood
disadvantage
through early-years support for
families and children could
benefit all members of a
society by reducing costs.”
If child poverty continues at the
rate it is - 29% living in severe
or significant hardship in 2014 –
then the 12% of adults 65+
years living in severe/significant
hardship in 2014 is likely to
double
as
the
current
generation of children become
grandparents.
Without
opportunity and multi-sectoral
intervention poverty becomes
embedded and intractable.
The Expert Advisory Group on
Solutions to Child Poverty
published ‘Solutions to Child
poverty in New Zealand:
Evidence for Action in 2012. It
gives
78
high
level
recommendations
to
Government across 14 focus
areas but the more pragmatic
issue of how primary care
nurses contribute in their day
to day work is not specifically
identified. The focus areas of
‘Health and Disability’ and
‘Local Communities and Family’
are the ‘practice arena’ of
nurses who can bring their
expertise to assessing needs of
individuals
and
whānau,
recommending and advocating
change and resource allocation
and then evaluating benefit.
Specific recommendations of
the Child Poverty Action Group
include:
Universal
health
services for children,
with targeted extra
services
based
on
assessment of further
need
National housing plan
Housing WOF
Increase minimum wage
and address the needs
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