The Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, announced this Thursday (13), the full gratuity of the Pharmacy Popular Program. At the National Meeting of Mayors, in Brasilia, she explained that all 41 items of the program, from now on, are distributed for free in accredited pharmacies. 
According to the Ministry of Health, the measure covers the entire Brazilian population and will immediately benefit more than one million people a year, who previously paid co -participation.
Geriatric diapers, for example, will be provided for free to the eligible public, such as people 60 or older. The minister evaluates that this was an important choice in attention to the aging of the population.
“We had over 24 million people benefited in 2024 and we will further increase this range mainly in the most remote areas of this country,” said the minister.
The ministry accounts for from 2022 to 2024, the total number of people served from 20.7 million by 2022 to 24.7 million by 2024.
The minister also announced that the government expanded accreditation to 758 cities that did not yet have the popular pharmacy.
The idea is to reach all cities, according to the minister. Currently, the program is already present in 4,812 municipalities (86% of cities and 97% of the population with more than 31 thousand accredited pharmacies). The program was created in 2004.
Dengue prevention
Also at the meeting of mayors, Nísia Trindade warned that municipal management are “main actors” in the fight against dengue in the country.
“Much can be done, especially within the municipalities, the municipalities, with urban cleaning and avoid stopping water. That’s because 75% of the outbreaks (from the transmitting mosquito) are in our homes and around our homes, ”he said in a press interview.
It added, however, that the confrontation should be joint, with federal government, states and municipalities in order to make the population aware. “We were able to have a 60% reduction (of cases) this year when we compared with 2024,” he said.
The minister regretted that last year there were 6.5 million cases of dengue. She attributed the result to climate change and also to the variation of dengue serotypes. Even in January, the ministry warned that type 3 is the one that most concerns the authorities because it has greater potential to cause serious forms of the disease.
“There are many regions of Brazil that are reasons for concern for us, such as some municipalities of São Paulo, where we are supporting the municipalities, as is the case of São José do Rio Preto.”
She considered that the disease vaccine is not yet produced on a scale for the entire country, and is intended for children and adolescents in more than two thousand municipalities. “We need to strongly recommend to those responsible who take their children and teenagers who have not taken the second dose to take,” he warned.
She assured that the ministry has supported states and municipalities with new units technologies to disperse Larvicide, strengthen endemic agents and perform actions for the coming years, such as the introduction of Wolbachia bacteria to control the transmission of the virus.
