Nova Scotia physicians and other sexual health experts are calling on the provincial government to fund birth control and increase access to a medication used to prevent HIV.

Four doctors, the head of the Halifax Sexual Health Centre, and a pharmacy professor made the comments today at a legislature committee hearing in Halifax.

Abbey Ferguson with the Halifax Sexual Health Centre says PrEP — an antiviral medication that prevents HIV transmission — is so expensive that many people who would benefit from the drug are not able to take it.

The drug is estimated to cost between $200 and $250 per month.

Dr. Melissa Brooks, the medical co-director of the Reproductive Options and Services Clinic, says the province’s pharmacare plan is so restrictive that it often doesn’t help those who cannot afford their preferred birth control option.

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Kari Ellen Graham, with Access Now Nova Scotia, urged the provincial government to sign on to the federal government’s pharmacare program, which helps fund birth control.

So far only P.E.I., Manitoba, British Columbia, and the Yukon have signed up to the federal pharmacare program.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2025.