DHB mulls free contraception | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

Wairarapa DHB may investigate giving out free morning-after pills to curb teenage pregnancy after successful campaigns in Palmerston North and Hamilton.

The spotlight has fallen on Mid Central DHB after it performed 7.5 per cent fewer abortions after making the pills available free at community pharmacies for women under 25.

Simon Everitt, Wairarapa DHB's general manager for strategic development and population health, said he was interested in the scheme but needed more details about how it actually worked.

He said the board would ultimately have to weigh up whether Wairarapa's teenage pregnancy rate justified the cost of the scheme.

Wairarapa consistently had a teenage pregnancy rate above the New Zealand average from 1990 to 2006, according to a 2008 report by the DHB.

In 2006, 4 per cent of Wairarapa girls aged 15-19 had a baby, compared with the national average of 3 per cent.

As it stands, the emergency contraceptive pill costs $30 to $40 from pharmacies without a prescription or $3 after an appointment at a family planning clinic or a doctor.

Mr Everitt said, as he understood it, Mid Central DHB was paying for that pharmacy fee and therefore circumvening the need to get a prescription.

Mid Central DHB funding division pharmacy adviser was unavailable yesterday but it's understood the DHB spends $12 for each pill compared with $1200 to terminate a pregnancy.

Mr Everitt agreed, if those numbers were correct, it sounded like good value for money.

Bob Francis, chairman of Wairarapa DHB, said while he had not heard about the scheme it sounded promising.

Simon Snook, Wairarapa DHB's director of termination of pregnancy, also had not heard of the scheme before but believed that it could curb teenage pregnancy.

"New Zealand has got a very high rate and Wairarapa is no better or worse than anywhere else.

"Certainly from the point of view of delivery, having a morning after pill free makes good sense because it may be the cost that gets in the way of people seeking emergency contraception."

He said ideally though the pill would be available for all women, not just those under 25, because unwanted pregnancy affected women of all ages.

The emergency contraceptive pill is 85 per cent effective if used within 72 hours of having unprotected sex.