Paula Menna Barreto
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - The Brazilian Ministry of Health is preparing a proposal for family planning activities in the government's health network. The Ministry wants the federal government's public health network (SUS) to take care of nearly 60 milllion women of child-bearing age, providing both contraceptive devices and birthing help.

Right now, these efforts include increasing the supply of reversible contraceptive methods and help in human reproductive acts. "We want to take care of 100% of the needs by 2005," says Maria José Oliveira, coordinator of the Women's Health Area of the Ministry of Health. According to Oliveira, the SUS will cover all the expenses of birthing help, including medications, which can cost up to US$ 191 (R$ 500) per month.

For the time being, only private clinics and some federal universities in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Rio Grande do Sul, as well as the Regional Hospital in Brasília, provide SUS help to couples unable to have children. Artificial insemination, for example, can cost as much as US$ 1.1 thousand (R$ 3 thousand), apart from the medications.

For Maria do Carmo Borges, the doctor in charge of the reproduction unit of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), the problem with having children is a public health matter. Last year alone the unit took care of 2,700 consultations. She believes that there may be 7 million infertile people in Brazil.

Translation: David Silberstein

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