The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Italy will distribute the contraceptive pill free of charge to all women

2023-04-22T18:35:36.785Z


The Drug Agency has not specified when the distribution of these pills will begin. HIV preventive drug will also be free


The contraceptive pill will be free in Italy for all women who require it, without age limits.

This has been decided by the Committee on Prices and Reimbursements of the Italian Drug Agency (AIFA).

In some Italian regions, such as Lazio or Tuscany, this oral contraceptive was already free, but only for those under 25, as is the case in France.

The novelty is that it now extends to all age groups.

The Drug Agency has not specified when the free distribution of the pills will begin —which currently cost up to 30 euros, depending on the type, the manufacturer and the applied co-payment—, since it will take time to complete the bureaucratic procedures that allow putting into practice the measure, but has calculated that the total cost for public coffers will be around 140 million euros.

The public institution that regulates pharmaceutical products in Italy had been working on this decision for months, but had encountered difficulties in redefining the price of drugs, since when a medicine is transferred to the National Health System, its price must be negotiated again. between pharmaceutical companies and the Drug Agency.

In addition, the agency's technical-scientific committee has had to develop three categories in which to classify the different oral contraceptives on the market, and recommend that some of them be free.

The least expensive drugs in each category will be offered free.

In Italy, around 16% of women between the ages of 15 and 49 use the contraceptive pill, according to data from the Italian Gynecological Society.

This is a percentage that experts consider low.

The president of the AIFA Price and Reimbursement Committee, Giovanna Scroccaro, in an interview published by the specialized media

Quotidiano Sanità,

He has praised the initiative to offer the pill free of charge in pharmacies and has indicated that from now on the number of women who resort to this method will be able to increase.

“This is an important decision, which will make it possible to broaden the audience of women who today, perhaps, considered that the cost of these contraceptives was too high and that is why they did not use them.

Contraception has always been little used in Italy, and now this may change.

The contraceptive pill was legalized in the transalpine country in 1971, after a long civil and social battle promoted by feminist movements and small political formations.

The decision of the Drug Agency to distribute it free of charge has aroused mixed feelings in the country.

AIFA is an independent body, so neither the Government nor the Ministry of Health can influence its decisions.

Neither the prime minister, the far-right Giorgia Meloni, nor other members of her Executive have yet ruled on the agency's decision, which was adopted on Friday night.

However, some representatives of Meloni's party have called on the drug regulator to back down.

"Italy's social and health priorities are very different," said Lavinia Mennuni, Senator for the Brothers of Italy.

Some so-called pro-life groups have also protested the decision to offer the pill for free.

Maria Rachele Ruiu,

Massimo Gandolfini, leader of the conservative Family Day association, has also criticized the decision.

“It leaves us baffled because it is a measure that goes in the opposite direction with respect to the problem of low birth rates and also uses significant resources that could be used, instead, to alleviate the serious conditions of families that have disabilities in their midst and have difficulties to buy medicines," he said.

In the opposition, however, they have applauded the initiative.

“It is a decision that we were waiting for.

Some regions had already decided for the youngest.

It is an important step for the protection of sexual and reproductive health”, pointed out Senator Cecilia D'Elia, from the Democratic Party.

In addition, the pill for the preventive treatment of HIV infection, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PreP), will also be free in Italy.

The drugs based on tenofovir, disoproxil and emtricitabine, which are used to treat the virus that causes AIDS, will also be paid for by the State.

Until now, this prophylaxis cost around 50 euros, depending on whether you purchased the generic drug or the original product, called Truvada.

The president of the AIFA Price and Reimbursement Committee has explained that the decision to make these drugs free has been easier.

“The price paid by the hospitals that buy these medicines has a minimal cost impact, of a few hundred thousand euros.

But since there is now important evidence that shows that it can make a great contribution in terms of infection prevention, and if we also think about how important pharmaceutical spending on antiretrovirals is, we are making an investment in health”, he pointed out.

The pill, which prevents HIV infection in people at risk, will be distributed through hospitals with a prescription from the infectologist.

Therefore, it will not be available in pharmacies, and to obtain it, you will have to undergo an evaluation by a specialist.

In Italy, since 1982, when the first case of AIDS was diagnosed in the country, 72,034 HIV infections have been reported, of which 77.1% (55,537) were men, according to the latest report from the Higher Institute of Health last November.

The National Association for the Fight against AIDS, which since 1985 has claimed the need to invest in the fight against the virus, has celebrated the decision of the Drug Agency as "an important step forward", but has called for the free extension to “the whole process” of diagnosis, which, for the moment, in most Italian regions continues to be the responsibility of the patient.

Source: elparis

All life articles on 2023-04-22

You may like

News/Politics 2024-03-09T07:17:37.858Z

Trends 24h

Life/Entertain 2024-03-28T17:17:20.523Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.