WELLINGTON, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- A new purpose-built mental health facility will mean a better environment, better care and an improved quality of life for a group of extremely vulnerable New Zealanders, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday.

Announcing 8.4 million NZ dollars (5.6 million U.S. dollars) in funding for a new six-unit secure facility, Ardern said it would provide quality, individualized care for New Zealand's most high needs of intellectual disability and mental health patients.

"It may be a small number of people who need this service, but at the moment we're not meeting that need," Ardern said in a statement.

"These people are sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. They and the staff who care for them deserve fit for purpose facilities that meet existing needs and this investment ensures that," she said.

It is part of the government commitment to fix problems in the mental health sector and follows previous initiatives including dedicated mental health support to primary and intermediate schools in quake-affected Kaikoura and Christchurch, funding new drug and detox facilities in Auckland and a pilot program for free counselling to 18 to 25 year olds, the prime minister said.

The new units will house patients who have an intellectual disability or a mental health diagnosis, under the care of Mental Health Addiction and Intellectual Disability Services, she said.