Estrogen shortage sends women in northern Sweden to Finland

Estrogen medications are used as part of menopause hormone therapy and are today prescribed to about eight percent of women over the age of forty-five in Sweden. (Andrey Popov/Shutterstock)
  • The shortage of menopause hormone therapy medications has meant that women in northern Sweden are crossing the Finnish border to buy the medication there instead.
  • Petra Lönnblad is a pharmacist in Tornio, on the Finnish-Swedish border, and she says that, over the past few months, she has seen increased demand from Swedish customers asking for the medication.
  • The Swedish Medical Products Agency says the use of estrogen has doubled in Sweden since 2018, and that is why there is a shortage.
Radio Sweden
The estrogen shortage in Sweden is part of a wider shortage being seen in several places in Europe and North America. (The Associated Press)

For more on the estrogen shortage in Sweden, and why pharmacists are increasingly sending women to Finland, listen to Radio Sweden’s full report.

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Canada: Yukon’s find-a-health-provider waitlist down by half as territory welcomes new doctors, CBC News

Finland: Brakes on Lapland health cuts a win for Arctic communities, says Sami Parliament, Eye on the Arctic 

United States: Senators, including Alaska’s, sound alarm on cuts impacting Indigenous health care agency, Eye on the Arctic

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