As of today, donations are accepted at pharmacies nationwide as part of the “Give Change to Those Who Need It” campaign.

Dignitude, a private social solidarity institution that develops solidarity programmes, has launched a new campaign to help those in need purchase medication. Starting today, the “Give Change to Those Who Need It” campaign, which runs until December 20 in more than 500 participating pharmacies nationwide, invites people to make donations.

The campaign encourages patrons of these establishments to donate their change to a solidarity fund that will help people identified by the association’s partners as living in poverty and unable to buy medicines.

Dignitude outlines in a note that this initiative seeks to assist people who cannot afford their prescribed medications by paying for the costs that the State does not reimburse.

According to the same source, the programme has already supported 39,000 beneficiaries and dispensed around three million packages of medicines nationally since its beginning in May 2016.

This year alone, the campaign, which ran from May 20 to 29, raised €14,837 in pharmacies to support the purchase of medicines, helping 90 people in need.

According to the Sustainable Health Index developed by Nova Information Management School, one in ten Portuguese people did not buy prescribed medication because they did not have money to pay for it.

Associação Dignitude, founded in 2015, is a private social solidarity institution whose mission is to develop solidarity programmes with a social impact that promote the population’s quality of life and well-being.