No child will be able to start taking puberty blockers from December 19.

The Government says the Ministry of Health has found a lack of evidence for the benefits or risks of gender dysphoria or incongruence treatment - gonadotropin - releasing hormone analogues.

Health Minister Simeon Brown says they're putting up safeguards until more evidence is available. 

"Effectively, what we're doing is putting in place a restriction on the prescribing of these drugs for this purpose to make sure that those who are prescribing look at the wider range of treatments or things that can be done."

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