The government is publishing a legal notice to put medicines for osteoporosis on the list of free government medicines, Health Minister Chris Fearne has announced.

Osteoporosis weakens the bones to the point that they can break easily. 

Some 20,000 mostly elderly people suffer from the condition in Malta, most of them women.  

Data by the International Osteoporosis Foundation in 2021 showed that The prevalence of osteoporosis in the total population amounted to 4.9%, on par with the EU27+2 average (5.6%). In Malta, 19.8% of women and 5.9% of men aged 50 years or more were estimated to have osteoporosis. Hip fracture is the most serious consequence of osteoporosis in terms of morbidity, mortality and health care expenditure.