SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP):

Brazil's government has added 'morning after' pills to its newly expanded birth control programme in hopes of helping poor people reduce unwanted pregnancies and dangerous illegal abortions.

Health Minister José Gomes Temporao announced the addition a month after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the government would provide cheap birth control pills at 10,000 drug stores across Latin America's biggest country.

Speaking at a roundtable discussion on Monday sponsored by the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, Temporao called the morning-after pill "an important tool for the prevention of unwanted pregnancies that will definitely be part of our strategy" to help Brazil's poor have the same access to birth control as its rich elite.

The Health Ministry said he attended, but would not immediately confirm his remarks.

Free condoms

Brazil already distributes 254 million free condoms a year, many as part of an anti-AIDS programme that makes a special effort just before each year's carnival celebrations. Brazil also has handed out the morning-after pill and regular contraceptives at government pharmacies for years.

The newly expanded programme offers regular contraceptives at commercial drug stores for sale at just US$2.40 (€1.78) for a year's supply. Temporao didn't say whether the morning-after pills would be subsidised or entirely free. Previously, the government said it would distribute 50 million packages of regular birth control pills, each with a month's supply, by year's end.

Morning-after pills have high doses of the same drugs found in many regular birth-control pills, and can lower the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 per cent if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

Ana Lucia Cavalcanti, who heads women's programmes for Sao Paulo, knew of no other Latin American nations that supply free or subsidised morning-after pills. She called on the government to launch education programmes so poor women understand how to use them.