The Government is being urged to tackle the underlying causes, not the symptoms, of child poverty in New Zealand.
The latest Children's Social Health Monitor shows an an increasing number of children are being hospitalised for conditions linked to poverty.
The annual report also found there has been no improvement in the number of children who die after being assaulted, and that one-in-five rely on welfare as the family's primary means of income.
Greens co-leader Metiria Turei says the Government should be focussed on fixing basic problems like the lack of a decent income, and good quality housing.
She says it makes it much harder for children to get a good education if they are sick and hungry.
One of National's support parties ACT also says not enough has been done to tackle the underlying causes of poverty.
ACT's John Banks says the Government's trial of charter schools will help lift thousands of disadvantaged children out of poverty.
But he says the Government has clearly not done enough.
United Future says this report should be viewed in the context of the global recession, which makes it harder to protect vulnerable families.
Government has failed: Labour
Labour's Social development spokesperson Jacinda Ardern said the Government has failed to mitigate the effects of the economic recession.
She said the basic needs of many families were just not being met.
In a statement, Health Minister Tony Ryall said the Government takes child health very seriously and has introduced extra Well Child visits, immunisation programmes and free doctor visits for under-sixes.
Report details
The report says about 4000 more children were hospitalised for conditions linked to poverty last year compared to five years ago.
The Children's Social Health Monitor was launched four years ago to monitor how the global economic crisis was affecting children's health and wellbeing.
The report says more than 30,000 children were admitted to hospital for poverty-related conditions every year between 2007 - 2011.
The number of cases in 2011 dropped by about 780 compared with the year before, but is still more than 4000 higher than in 2007.
Report editor Elizabeth Craig said rates are continuing to rise for serious skin infections and respiratory infections such as tonsillitis.
Paediatrician Innes Asher of the Child Poverty Action Group said the report shows alarming disparities in New Zealand.
Assault numbers
The report also said the number of children dying from assaults each year has stayed the same for more than a decade. The average per year since 2000 is eight.
Dr Nikki Turner told Morning Report that the numbers in the report could be an underestimation which misses less severe assault cases that go unnoticed by authorities.
