Kuriger BarbaraANNUAL REVIEW DEBATEIn CommitteeDebate resumed from 3 May on the Appropriation (2015/16 Confirmation and Validation) Bill.Health Sector (continued)BARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki—King Country): It is a pleasure to take a call in this Appropriation (2015/16 Confirmation and Validation) Bill debate on the health sector.Since this Government came into office health spending is up $4.3 billion which is 6.2 percent of the economy. The New Zealand Health Strategy lays out the future direction of health and it is a health system with a focus on prevention. It has really been good to see over the last little while the work that is going on between health between education and between all of the other departments having a look at putting the children first and doing the cross-agency work around social investment—and that process is starting.Starting from the bottom there is a whole lot of stuff going on for children. For a start the free doctors visits for under-13s—that has increased almost 14 percent between July and December 2016 compared with the same period in 2014. That is a real credit knowing that our children are able to get out and attend the doctor without parents having to find that extra financial burden of having to pay. It is also constructive to know that 99 percent of New Zealand's GP practices have received funding to make the zero fees possible for children under 13. There are lots of doctors' practices that are partaking in this great move.I would also like to note that immunisation coverage for 18-month-olds is now at 95 percent. That compares with just 67 percent of 18-month-olds in 2007. That is a huge jump. That is a whole lot of children who are protected now who never were 10 years ago and the spread and risk of some of those diseases that we do not want to see in our families are being prevented.Moving on to the school front we have 219 new decile 1 to 4 schools signed up for the Health Promoting Schools programme. That is 46 percent above target. That is really creditable. To think—when we look at the prevention approach this is where the whole school community works together to address the health and well-being of students of staff and of the community so everybody is on board. It takes a whole community to raise a child. Whether we are talking about education or health everybody needs to be on board in this process and it is really good that the schools are actually starting to get really engaged in it.The Government is also currently in the process of co-designing a nationwide transformation of the disability support system. I would just like to put a call out to a couple of organisations in my electorate EnrichPlus and ConneXu. They are actually working with people—helping them to live better lives—who are starting to find their own way in the world. That is one of the processes and the other one is helping those people to integrate into the community to get jobs. We have got a lot of employers who are quite prepared to employ people with disabilities. Having a disability does not mean that you are not able to work; it just means that sometimes some special things need to take place in the workplace to allow you to be there. I think it is fantastic because those people want to live a really good life like anybody else. I think it is commendable that this is going on.I also would like to note the access to Pharmac's medicines. There is a record $850 million—Budget 2016 invested an extra $124 million. As a result Pharmac has widened access to HPV and varicella vaccinations. It has funded two new hepatitis medicines—The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I am just going to warn the member that we are having a slight problem with the clock. She does have only 30 seconds left.BARBARA KURIGER: Oh that is cool. I was wondering about that thank you. Pharmac has increased the funding for two new hepatitis C medicines a treatment for advanced melanoma and patches for menopausal women. Those increases in Pharmac funding have actually given a lot of people opportunities particularly around melanoma—to take a drug that is very effective in treating melanoma these days. So it is a pleasure to take a call on this. We can see some good things happening in health.