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It’s World Asthma Day, and a leading researcher says New Zealand needs to take a lot more comprehensive approach to the problem.
Innes Asher, the head of paediatrics at the Auckland University School of Medicine, says it’s a problem that affects a disproportionate number of Maori children.
Professor Asher, who co-wrote a report for the Child Poverty Action Group on the problem says hospital admissions for asthma have been going up over the past decade.
Contributing factors include substandard housing, lack of access to basic healthcare and the fact one in five children lives in poverty.
"So you’ve got the combination of not having enough money to get to the doctor, to fill the script for your asthma preventer and you live in a cold dark house and you can’t afford healthy heating, you’ve got the gas heaters that can in themselves make asthma worse, then you’ve got a set up of poor asthma control, so we as a country need to address this by taking a comprehensive approach to health of our people," Professor Asher says.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR INNES ASHER CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MTc4MjI=
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