At Brazil’s Government Pharmacy Condoms Are 85% Off

The list of pharmaceutical products sold through the Ministry of Health’s Community Pharmacy program now includes male condoms. The decision was one of the acts that marked the World Day to Combat Aids, commemorated on December 1st.

According to the coordinator of the Community Pharmacy, Jamaira Giora, it will be possible to purchase condoms for less than what they cost at regular pharmacies.


“In the Popular Pharmacy, they cost US$ 0.30. On the average, they will be 85% cheaper than in commercial pharmacies.”


Giora says that, besides condoms, other medications will be added to the list.


“We now have 89 items. We have added five items in the past two months and are analyzing the inclusion of another five. Two should join the list by the end of the month, one to control cholesterol and the other for hypertension.”


The Ministry’s Community Pharmacy of Brazil program got underway in June.


There are currently 26 Community Pharmacies in the country. Seven more will be inaugurated by the end of December.


But, according to Giora, the Ministry’s goal is to have 100 pharmacies in operation in 2005, when the program goes into its second year.


The Community Pharmacy Program was launched by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Siva on June 7, in Salvador, capital of the state of Bahia.


According to the Ministry of Health, the purpose of the program is to guarantee the population access to basic medications that are essential to health, at a low cost.


The community pharmacies started by offering customers 84 remedies at prices lower than what the market charges, for the diseases that occur most frequently in Brazil, such as allergy, anemia, bronchitis, depression, diabetes, epilepsy, gastritis, and high blood pressure.


In the first phase, a total of 18 community pharmacies were inaugurated in Salvador, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Goiânia.


In his speech President Lula said that the objective of the Community Pharmacy Program of Brazil is “to enable remedies in to be an article not only for rich people in Brazil.”


Lula pointed out that, when it comes to improving the health of the population, the policy of basic sanitation is one of the priorities. “Investing in basic sanitation, water treatment, and sewer systems means investing in health,” he declared.


Agência Brasil
Translator: David Silberstein

Tags:

You May Also Like

Taking Sean from his Family and Little Sister on Christmas Eve Is Inhumane

Dear President Lula, my name is Silvana Bianchi, I am Brazilian, I'm 60 years ...

Close to Half a Million Brazilians to Get Cancer This Year

Around 460 thousand Brazilian men and women are expected to fall victim to cancer ...

Brazil: Spreading Small Business Incubators

After spreading across the main economic centers in Brazil, incubators will now start motivating ...

Brazil’s Biggest Street Party Overseas Ready to Roll in NY

Differently from many of the ethnic communities around the New York City area, expat ...

In Brazil, Not All Gringos Are Created Equal

It’s been my privilege to listen recently to several North American colleagues, themselves immigrants ...

Brazil Raps UN for Not Including Women in Millenium Goals

In a speech at the 49th Session of the United Nations (UN) Commission on ...

Certification Is the Way to Internationalization, Brazil Concludes

More than 3,500 men and approximately 400 machines are already at work in the ...

Women in Brazil: So Protected Still So Abused

Women are granted by the Brazilian Constitution with an impressive quantity of ‘fundamental’ rights. ...

Brazil Losing Another Race, This Time to Mexico

In the 1970s and 1980s few listened to those asserting that, due to their ...

Sean Goldman’s Grandmother to File Another Lawsuit in US to See Boy

After a frustrated trip to the US to see her grandson Sean Goldman, Brazilian ...