Anger over flavoured-condom funding 

There are calls for Pharmac to get its priorities right after it agreed to fund a range of flavoured condoms, saying it has identified a need for wider choice.

The government's drug buying agency says says funding a wider range of condoms saves taxpayers money, increases choice and promotes better sexual health practices.

Acting Medical Director Dr Dilky Rasiah says the decision has a number of benefits.

"New Zealand has quite high rates of unplanned pregnancies, terminations and sexually transmitted diseases," she says.

"Improving sexual health is a Government health priority so increasing the range of condoms available can only be good in terms of encouraging safe sex practices."

The news comes only a matter of weeks after the agency turned down pleas for an extended treatment plan for breast cancer drug Herceptin.

Herceptin campaigner Anne Hayden says Pharmac needs to get real and spend the money where it counts.
 
Hayden says while the move may come as good news to sexually active teenagers, it does little for the 600-odd women who die each year from breast cancer.

Each year New Zealand prescribers issue nine million condoms, which cost the taxpayer less than $1,000,000 of the $635 million pharmaceutical budget. Under the latest decision, the price will reduce by 10%.

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