Brazil to subsidize birth control pills

The Associated Press
Herald Tribune

Published: May 28, 2007

SAO PAULO, Brazil: Just weeks after Pope Benedict XVI denounced government-backed birth control in a visit to Brazil, the country's leader unveiled a program Monday to provide cheap birth control pills at 10,000 drug stores across Latin America's largest nation.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the plan will give poor Brazilians "the same right that the wealthy have to plan the number of children they want."

Brazil already hands out free condoms and birth control pills at government-run pharmacies. But many poor people in the nation of 190 million don't go to those pharmacies, so Silva's administration decided to offer the pills at drastically reduced prices at 3,500 private drug stores, said Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao.

The price for a year's supply of birth control pills under the new program would be 4.8 reals (US$2.4,€1.78), and anyone — rich or poor — can buy the pills by simply showing a government-issued identification card that almost all Brazilians carry.
The number of outlets selling the pills is expected to rise to 10,000 by the end of this year.

When the 100 million real (US$51 million, €37.9 million) program is fully under way, the government expects to be handing out 50 million packages of birth control pills each year.
Each government-subsidized package — with enough pills to last a month — will cost 0.40 Brazilian reals (US$0.20, €O.15). They now retail for 5 reals (US$2.56, €1.90) to 50 reals (US$25.60, €19.03).

Leia mais aqui no Herald Tribune