adminTHE use of any method of family planning (FP) by women is often influenced by their husbands, but men, being husbands, have rarely been involved in either receiving or providing information on sexuality, reproductive health, or birth spacing. They have also been ignored or been excluded in one way or the other from participating in many family planning programmes as family planning is viewed as a woman’s affair.
ZNFPC executive director Dr Munyaradzi Murwira said male involvement in family planning benefits the nation at large.
“By and large men are also recognised to be responsible for the large proportion of ill reproductive health suffered by their female partners. Male involvement helps not only in accepting a contraceptive but also in its effective use and continuation,” he said.
“Lack of spouse communication is one of the challenges associated with low contraceptive use.
“Many women do not discuss with their husbands about FP and reproductive health. Rather most women think that their husbands disapprove of family planning, which is a misnomer.”
According to ZNFPC, male involvement in family planning means more than increasing the number of men using condoms and having vasectomies. It includes the number of men who encourage and support their partners and their peers to use FP and who influence the policy environment to be conducive to male-related family planning programmes.
The family unit in Zimbabwe is essentially patriarchal and patrilineal, with all the important decision making revolving around the male, usually the head of the household, while the woman’s fundamental social role is to bear and raise children and engage in productive tasks within the household.
“The involvement of men in family planning would therefore not only ease the responsibility borne by women in terms of decision making for family planning matters, but would also accelerate the understanding and practice of family planning in general,” added Dr Murwira.
“Without accurate information on the benefits and various methods of family planning, men are more likely to resist supporting family planning use because of misinformation that some methods may harm women’s health, or because they believe that women using family planning are more likely to be promiscuous.”
Public health officials have advocated the involvement of men as a strategy for addressing the dismal performance of family planning programmes.
The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (2014) reveals that the country’s contraceptive prevalence rate stands at 67 percent while the unmet need is at 10,4 percent.
Identified barriers to male involvement include the perception that family planning is a woman’s activity and is not a man’s custom to participate in family planning programmes.
“Men are perceived as the sole providers for their family needs. Women are not considered decision makers, but implementers of what had been decided by men, without questioning men’s decisions”.
Men’s lack of access to services has been a barrier to family planning use. Men cannot share the responsibility for reproductive health and family planning if services and information do not reach them.
Dr Murwira added that family planning information and services in Zimbabwe are not targeted towards men; services are instead traditionally presented within the context of maternal and child health.
“The limited range of family planning products and services for men has led men to shy away and discourage their partners the use of modern methods of family planning. Condoms in many marriage set ups are an abomination and a very small percentage of men favour vasectomy in Zimbabwe,” he added.
However, Dr Murwira added that in order to achieve greater participation of men in family planning, providers are supposed to act as both motivators of men and their confidantes.
“Having male service providers in the premises would increase the proportion of male clients who patronise family planning services,” he said.
“And also encouraging women to visit family planning clinics in the company of their partners would increase participation of men.”
Also, findings have shown that since men are the decision makers, they are expected to initiate discussions on family planning and the number of children the couple wants to have.
Evidence indicate that male involvement can lead to contraceptive uptake through the pathway of increased spousal communication.
However, family planning programmes have traditionally focused on women as the primary beneficiaries and men have been considered as the silent partners of the services.
ZNFPC anticipates that when men are involved in family planning they will be able to make joint decisions with their spouses in order to achieve a better life for their families.
“Enhanced spousal communication will lead to informed family planning method choice and acceptance. Also timely spaced children usually receive better care from the parents,” added Dr Murwira.
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