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  • Title: Subsidising contraception for young people in Sweden.
    Author: Persson E, Gustafsson B, Van Rooijen M.
    Journal: Plan Parent Eur; 1994 Mar; 23(1):2-4. PubMed ID: 12288985.
    Abstract:
    The primary health care unit (PHCU) of the community of Solna, a town near Stockholm, Sweden, attended to a population of 11,000 women in reproductive age who had one of the highest abortion rates among young women in 1989: 50/1000 women aged 15-29. The rate increased by 20% between 1985 and 1989. Among the causative factors were the increased price of oral contraceptives (OCs), which more than doubled, the diminished access to counseling, and articles about the possible long-term risks of OCs, which created a negative social attitude about them. Therefore, a project group was organized to improve counseling, access to contraceptives, and information about contraception, as well as to subsidize OCs. The group consisted of representatives of the PHCU, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Karolinska Hospital, and the Stockholm County AIDS prevention program. The project lasted 2 years. Educational input consisted of reading sessions on abortion, contraception, and counseling, to which the primary care personnel, the community youth agency, and the school health ward were invited. In addition, at the women's clinic, a gynecologist and a midwife, who provided counseling and oral contraceptive prescriptions, were employed. Subsidized OCs were prescribed to women under 23 years of age. During the first year, OCs were prescribed for 620 women. In 1989, among visitors under 23 years of age, 60% were OC users. By 1991 this figure increased to 81% (p 0.001). During this 2-year period in Solna, abortions decreased by 17%, when a general decline of 5% occurred in Sweden. During the second year, 54 fewer abortions were reported, saving an estimated US$34,000 in public expenditure. The results of the project were presented to the Stockholm County Council, which decided to continue subsidizing OCs for all women under 23 years of age and promote contraceptive services and counseling. The gynecologist and the midwife were also retained.
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