scholarly journals A long way to go: engagement of men and boys in country family planning commitments and implementation plans

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Christopher Hook ◽  
Karen Hardee ◽  
Tim Shand ◽  
Sandra Jordan ◽  
Margaret E. Greene

Background: Evidence shows that, to reach global goals related to women and girls’ access to modern family planning (FP) and gender equality, it is critical to understand and account for the role of men and boys as users of reproductive health services, as partners for millions of women & girls around the world, and as advocates in their communities. Under the Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) partnership, countries were encouraged to develop costed implementation plans and action plans in an effort to provide 120 million additional women and girls with contraception. As FP2020 becomes FP2030, reviewing these previously-developed strategies helps understand the extent to which countries considered the engagement of men as an important aspect of their family planning portfolios. Methods: We conducted textual analysis on commitments and implementation plans related to achieving FP2020 commitments in seven countries in Africa and one in Asia to determine the extent to which male engagement was incorporated into country or subnational family planning goals, with particular focus on FP policy, program, and financial commitments.  Results: Some of the documents analyzed included robust plans for including male engagement in their efforts to expand access to FP.  The strongest aspects of male engagement programming were those that sought to engage men as advocates for women’s access to and use of FP services, and improve men’s knowledge and attitudes related to contraception and reproduction. The weakest aspects were engaging men as users of services and, vitally, tackling underlying gender norms which hamper men’s and women’s health-seeking behaviors and attitudes. Conclusions: Developing FP programs that target men and boys as people deserving of reproductive health services, as partners with women in building their families, and as social activists in their communities, will complement and strengthen existing FP programs as well as promote broader goals related to gender equality.

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Christopher Hook ◽  
Karen Hardee ◽  
Tim Shand ◽  
Sandra Jordan ◽  
Margaret E. Greene

Background: To reach global goals related to women and girls’ access to modern family planning (FP) and gender equality, evidence shows that it is critical to understand and account for the role of men and boys as users of reproductive health services, as partners for millions of women & girls around the world, and as advocates in their communities. Under the Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) partnership, countries were encouraged to develop costed implementation plans and action plans in an effort to provide 120 million additional women and girls with contraception. As FP2020 becomes FP2030, reviewing these previously-developed strategies helps understand the extent to which countries considered the engagement of men as an important aspect of their family planning portfolios. Methods: We conducted textual analysis on commitments and implementation plans related to achieving FP2020 commitments in six countries in Africa and one in Asia to determine the extent to which male engagement was incorporated into country or subnational family planning goals, with particular focus on FP policy, program, and financial commitments.  Results: Some of the documents analyzed included robust plans for including male engagement in their efforts to expand access to FP.  The strongest aspects of male engagement programming were those that sought to engage men as advocates for women’s access to and use of FP services, and improve their knowledge and attitudes related to contraception and reproduction. The weakest aspects were engaging men as users of services and, vitally, tackling underlying gender norms which hamper men’s and women’s health-seeking behaviors and attitudes. Conclusions: Developing FP programs that target men and boys as people deserving of reproductive health services, as partners with women in building their families, and as social activists in their communities, will complement and strengthen existing FP programs as well as promote broader goals related to gender equality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-62
Author(s):  
D. N. Parajuli

 Reproductive rights are fundamental rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world, but have a commonality about the protection, preservation and promotion of a woman‘s reproductive health rights. Reproductive rights include the right to autonomy and self-determination , the right of everyone to make free and informed decisions and have full control over their body, sexuality, health, relationships, and if, when and with whom to partner, marry and have children , without any form of discrimination, stigma, coercion or violence. The access and availability of reproductive health services are limited due to geography and other issues, non-availability and refusal of reproductive health services may lead to serious consequences. The State need to ensure accessibility, availability, safe and quality reproductive health services and address the lifecycle needs of women and girls and provide access of every young women and girls to comprehensive sexuality education based on their evolving capacity as their human rights, through its inclusion and proper implementation in school curriculum, community-based awareness program and youth led mass media. It is necessary for strengthening compliance, in a time-bound manner, with international human rights standards that Nepal has ratified that protect, promote, and fulfill the basic human rights and reproductive health rights in Nepal and also need to review standards and conventions that Nepal has had reservations about or those that have been poorly implemented in the country.


Author(s):  
Yana van der Meulen Rodgers

Chapter 7 concludes by highlighting the three biggest messages from the analysis presented in this book: (1) the global gag rule has failed to achieve its goal of reducing abortions; (2) restrictive legislation is associated with more unsafe abortions; and (3) the expanded global gag rule is likely to have negative repercussions across a range of health outcomes for women, children, and men. They are simple but powerful messages that should be heard by policymakers over the voices calling for an ideologically based policy that fails to achieve its desired outcome. The chapter closes with a more constructive and cost-effective approach for US family-planning assistance that targets integrated reproductive health services.


2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-46
Author(s):  
Khadga Bahadur Shrestha

Transforming family planning rights into practices is not an easy task especially in a developing nation like Nepal where society is patriarchal and literacy is low. Besides, coverage and quality of reproductive health services and active involvement of the community is crucial in the transformation. For properly addressing these challenges, all the sectors that provide family planning services need to act on advocacy, creating demand, reshaping service delivery, sustainability (financial and self-reliance) and high level political and financial commitments are necessary.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hprospect.v12i2.9874 Health Prospect Vol.12(2) 2013: 42-46


Author(s):  
Irshad Begum Shaikh ◽  
Syed Imtiaz Ahmed Jafry ◽  
Syed Muhammad Zulfiqar Hyder Naqvi ◽  
Syeda Nadia Firdous ◽  
Admin

Abstract A cross-sectional survey was conducted from February 2016 to September 2016 to assess knowledge, attitude and practices regarding implants among women of childbearing age visiting Reproductive Health Services Center, Civil Hospital,Karachi. A total of 396 adult non-pregnant married females of child bearing age, from 18 to 49 years old, were interviewed using a structured questionnaire.Only153 (38.6%) of therespondentshad knowledge about implants whereas out of them 122 (79.7%) acquired it from family planning clinics. Almost two third of them (n=267, 67.4%) were in favor of using implants as a contraceptive method. Moreover, 244 (61.6%) of them were of the opinion that if given the choice, they will use implanon though out of total 316 (79.8%) respondents who ever used contraceptives, only 3 (0.9%) used implants.Despiteafavorable attitude, limited knowledge and poor practices of the respondents highlighted the study findings. Keywords: Knowledge, Attitude, Contraception, Progestins, Continuous...


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1074-1083 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Hamm ◽  
Elizabeth Miller ◽  
Lovie Jackson Foster ◽  
Mario Browne ◽  
Sonya Borrero

Despite demonstrable need, men’s utilization of sexual and reproductive health services remains low. This low utilization may particularly affect low-income men, given the disproportionate prevalence of unintended pregnancy in low-income populations. Bolstering men’s utilization of sexual and reproductive health services requires understanding the services that are most relevant to them. Semistructured interviews about fatherhood, fertility intention, and contraceptive use were conducted with 58 low-income Black and White men in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The interviews were analyzed using content analysis to determine common themes that were most relevant to the men interviewed. The primacy of financial stability emerged as a dominant theme in men’s perceptions of fatherhood readiness, successful fathering, and fertility intentions. However, men had children despite feeling financially unprepared, and their contraceptive use was not always congruent with their stated fertility intentions. Some men described financial services as a feature of family planning services that they would find useful. Because of the salience of financial stability in preparation for fatherhood, integrating financial counseling and job skills training into the context of sexual and reproductive health services could be a useful structural intervention to increase men’s use of family planning services and to provide them with the support they say they need as fathers.


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