Time to pay to protect kids

OPINION: We are failing our children by not funding the job of protecting them from skin cancer.

School sun protection and education is not government funded despite New Zealand having the deadliest melanoma rate in the world.

Every year, more than 69,000 skin cancers are diagnosed and 500 Kiwis die from skin cancer. Ninety per cent of skin cancers could be prevented by reducing sun exposure.

The best time to develop the lifetime habits that reduce sun exposure is in primary school. Seeking shade, dressing appropriately – whether that is a school uniform or not – and crucially, always wearing a hat, should be key public health measures for schools.

Rather than expecting schools to do this on a voluntary, selffunded basis, we should be making it mandatory and funding it adequately.

University of Otago research fellow Bronwen McNoe surveyed 1243 schools with Tony Reeder and presented findings from the Cancer Society-funded research at the Public Health Association Conference on Wednesday.

They found 74 per cent of schools had shade for children to sit in and have lunch, but only 14 per cent had adequate shade for active activities.

When there was no way to shelter active areas like sports fields, sunhats and clothing were important sun protection. ‘‘Almost all’’ schools required pupils to wear hats outdoors, but only 72 per cent allowed wide-brimmed hats that protected the face, ears and neck where many skin cancers could develop later in life.

When it comes to active play, and especially at combined school events such as athletics days and outdoor swimming sports, many children can end up in full sun all day. That makes wearing sunhats, ideally wide-brimmed ones, even more important.

The Ministry of Education says it ‘‘supports schools in ensuring the health and wellbeing of their students is protected’’ and ensures shade protection in new schools, but existing schools have to self-fund sun smart improvements. And programmes about sun smart behaviour are delivered by the Cancer Society.

Given the high risks of our harsh sun exposure and the country’s alarming melanoma rate, sun protection at state-funded primary schools – where children spend at least six of the sunniest hours of the day – should be funded by the taxpayer.

That would be a cost-effective prevention measure that could likely be justified by even the most actuarial of Treasury officials.

But more important than that, protecting vulnerable children from an entirely preventable disease is the right thing to do.