RNZ reports New Zealand has high rates of middle ear infections with around 83-thousand GP consultations and five-thousand hospital admissions annually for children under five years old.
Starship hospital specialist Colin Barber said Maori and Pasifika children were disproportionately affected with hospital admissions up to double the number of that for European children.
He said the high rates were thought to be caused by genetics but were now attributed to poverty and overcrowding.