KEY POINTS:
Many of us grew up in households where, if you were cold, you put on another jersey. Heaters or fires were seen as signs of weakness.
But a recent study shows our cold houses are having a big impact on the health of our children and our alarming rate of respiratory illness.
It's time to face facts - New Zealand homes are often cold, damp and mouldy. In a 2005 survey of 565 homes by the building research company BRANZ, 30 per cent felt damp or smelled musty and up to 60 per cent were damp during winter months.
Some people are just accustomed to living in cold houses. Many others simply cannot afford to heat their homes to the World Health Organisation recommended minimum of 18C.
Cold housing is a perfect breeding ground for the country's epidemic of asthma which is three times the global average and costs $825 million a year in medical expenses and days off work.
Studies have found around 16 per cent of Auckland children aged 13 to 14 reported clinical asthma with wheezing, and around 28 per cent said they wheezed after exercise. Around 25 per cent of Auckland adults 20 to 44 years of age reported wheezing.
Nationally, around 15 per cent of New Zealanders - about 600,000 people - have asthma and the severity is particularly high among Maori and Pacific peoples.
Asthma is the most common cause of hospital admission in New Zealand, and means 500,000 school days are lost every year. It's the third ranked specific cause of long-term disability and it is becoming more prevalent.
There have been many attempts to pin down the causes of asthma: animals, pollens, colds and flu, physical exercise, smoking, medications, fumes, hormonal changes and a sudden change in temperature have all been identified as triggers.
But research is making it increasingly obvious our buildings also have an impact.
A new study by the University of Otago's Wellington-based He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme, released last month, discovered the installation of more effective and less-polluting heaters in the homes of more than 400 children with asthma, improved the health of those children and their families.
The average daily temperature increased between 1C and 2C, and more than 40 per cent of the participants never felt cold during the winter months, compared with only 5 per cent before.
More effective heating resulted in less mould and mouldy smells, reduced condensation and halved the levels of the pollutant nitrogen dioxide, (a bi-product from the combustion of gas which has been associated with coughing in asthmatic children).
In their newly warm homes, the children reported fewer episodes of cold and flu and fewer days off school.
So how can we use the knowledge that a warm house reduces asthma to make a difference? The announcements in the recent budget of extra funding to help Kiwi families live in warm, dry, healthy homes is a good start.
The Government is setting aside $14 million for insulation retrofits for low-income households and $23 million for interest-free loans to help households pay for clean heating upgrades.
Over $5 million is being spent on the installation of clean forms of heating for low-income families in areas where the air quality is poor.
This will bring warm, dry homes within the reach of some Aucklanders for the first time, and have undoubted benefits for their health.
But given the annual $825 million cost of asthma to the country, there is always more to be done. How many low-income Auckland families in homes heated by polluting unflued gas heaters or ineffective blow heaters will be able to afford upgraded heating - even using an interest-free loan?
Asthma affects many New Zealand households, and effective, quality heating therefore has the potential to improve the health of a large number of children.
We already have programmes in place that include the installation of insulation and heating systems - such as the Healthy Housing initiative between Housing New Zealand and district health boards.
The costs of broadening such programmes would surely be less than the current burdensome asthma epidemic and a vital investment in the future wellbeing of Aucklanders, the economy of the country's biggest city and that of the nation.
* Jane Patterson is executive director of the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation.
