A south Auckland GP and public health researcher says whānau are getting priced out of the option of giving their tamariki healthy kai.
Dr Joanna Strom, the lead researcher at the School of Population Health at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, says as a GP she sees the impact of food insecurity, such as increased rates of childhood obesity – and as a mother, she experiences first-hand the rising cost of providing healthy food for her three children.
She says over the past 6 years, low-cost healthy food has jumped up in price, where it is available.
“More than a 50 percent increase if we also take into account that as children age, they need more food, so as every year goes by, we are buying more food for our tamariki, and so when you put that on top of this increase in prices, it is a huge increase to whanau and households,” Dr Strom says.
As part of her research, she has created a tool so other researchers and advocates can keep track of the rising cost of healthy food.
