Men as Partners in Reproductive Health: From Issues to Action

A growing understanding in the international public health community of the role of gender in reproductive health has helped to make reproductive health professionals aware of the need to develop creative strategies to reach men. While pilot programs and initiatives for including men in family planning and other reproductive health services have existed for more than 20 years in a number of countries only few are well-established and even fewer have been fully integrated into countries health care systems. Program managers and policymakers in many countries have routinely assumed that men are not interested in or supportive of family planning and contraceptive use even though recent research indicates that many men are. Research also indicates that many women want men to become more involved in reproductive health decision-making and activities. 145 men and women from more than a dozen mainly African and Asian countries met in Mombasa Kenya in May 1997 to share their experiences with knowledge of and concerns about fostering mens involvement in reproductive health care. Conference participants developed and presented plans to create programs for men in their countries with the goal of integrating them into existing national reproductive health systems.