Labour vows to eliminate rheumatic fever
AUCKLAND: Labour wants rheumatic fever to ‘‘vanish from New Zealand’’, and has promised to expand the Healthy Homes initiative to help rid the country of the illness.
‘‘Rheumatic fever is a disease we should not have in New Zealand,’’ Labour leader Jacinda Ardern said, adding there were roughly 160 rheumatic fever hospitalisations a year.
She wants the number to be zero.
This was New Zealand’s ‘‘national shame’’, she said.
‘‘We are not a developing country. We should not have a disease like this.’’
Ms Ardern has promised to pour more money into efforts to eliminate the illness — an extra $55 million over four years on various initiatives.
The lion’s share of that, $39 million, would go towards bolstering the Healthy Homes initiative, a policy implemented by the thenNational government in 2013.
Those standards set minimum heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture and drainage standards across the country.
At the moment, the scheme operates across 11 district health boards with the highest rates of rheumatic fever.
Labour has promised to expand it to the remaining nine DHBs and would increase support for the purchase of curtains, floor coverings, heaters, beds, bedding, mould kits and minor housing repairs.
According to researching unit Branz, 22% of New Zealand rental homes have no fixed heating.
That figure is 7% when it comes to owneroccupied properties.
‘‘It is unacceptable that poorquality housing is causing lifelong heart damage, as well as swelling and pain in joints and skin, and increased risk of asthma and other respiratory illness,’’ Ms Ardern said.
The problems were worse for Maori and Pasifika children.
‘‘We want this disease to vanish from New Zealand.’’
The remaining $16 million will be put towards beefing up Tenancy Services compliance and enforcement teams to ensure rental accommodation meets standards.
That funding, also split up over four years, would allow inspectors to target highrisk areas sand communities.
‘‘While good progress has been made to tackle the conditions that lead to strep throat and consequential rheumatic fever, we need to keep up the momentum,’’ Ms Ardern said. — The New Zealand Herald