Sexual and reproductive health services to meet men’s needs

This study aims to explore male participation in family planning and associated factors in Zanjan city in north west Iran. Itis qualitatives study suing 33 in-depth interviews with married men resided in rural and urban areas. The approach was deductive content analysis. Purposive sampling with maximum variability was employed. Data were collected using semi-structured in-depth interviews during July-Aug. 2011. The content analysis was used in two methods of conceptual framework and conceptual mapping. Main themes emerged included: 1. the nature of male participation, 2. the facilitators of male participation, and 3. Barriers of male participation. Results indicates that men’s attitude towards reproductive health and family planning in Zanjan city is satisfactory, however there are some obstacles which prevent men to participate in family planning such as inappropriate operating time of family planning clinics, lack of male health care provider , some gender beliefs and complications and inconvenience of using male methods and lack of knowledge.

Due to the growing shortage of women on the marriage market in China, male bachelorhood is becoming a new demographic concern. Although marriage remains in most cases the only socially acceptable setting for sexuality, the female shortage implies that marriage-squeezed male bachelors can only meet their sexual needs through means other than heterosexual marriage. Little information is currently available on the situation of these marriage-squeezed males in China, but some recent studies indicate, for instance, that there is a higher occurrence of masturbation and use of prostitution among them. In parallel, it has been stated that unsafe sexual behaviours, including commercial sex and unprotected sex, increase the risk of transmission of HIV and STIs. Therefore, such unsafe behaviours may have substantial implications for prevention of HIV and STIs in this population. This paper investigates the sexual behaviours of male migrant bachelors in Xi’an and focuses on the risk they face in their sexual intercourses during their migration experience. Their general situation and specific characteristics are described, as well as the influence factors behind these risky sexual behaviours.

This paper examines the impact of peer led intervention on challenging gender norms among young men. The analysis is based on the operations research (the Horizons program) which covered 1040 young men (18-29 years) from 28 villages from one of the northern states of India. Pre-Post intervention surveys, including measures of attitudes towards gender norms using the Gender Equitable Men (GEM) scale and other key HIV/STI risk outcome were used as evaluation tools. The study demonstrated that there was a significant decrease in supporting inequitable gender norms, there was an increase in condom use with marital and non-marital partners and reported less physical harassment. Majority of men who participated in the study showed considerable improvement in inter-spousal communication on various issues such as STI, HIV prevention and condom use, which clearly highlights the importance of interpersonal communication and reinforcing gender equity and HIV risk reduction messages at the community level.

Over the years, the issue of maternal health was predominantly seen and treated as a purely feminine matter. The involvement of men in ensuring and enhancing maternal health has significant positive impact on maternal and child. National Family Health survey has provided an opportunity to investigate the factors influencing men involvement in maternal and child health care in India. The result suggests that education, occupation and exposure to mass media are important factors that influence men participation in maternal and child health care, however women education has significant influence than the men education and men exposure to mass media has more impact on male involvement. Standard of living, number of living children and age difference between couple are the most influential factors in deciding men participation maternal health care. So it is suggested that there should be some more efforts to reach the men through mass media, and efforts to educate the women more and more.

Since the early 1990s there has been a growing interest in the role of men in reproductive health. The 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development, and the 1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women formally recognized the key role of men in promoting better reproductive health for men and women, women empowerment and gender equality. The failure of reproductive health communication and promotion efforts to promote men’s and women’s needs and rights equally may lead to male exclusion. Males may remain not informed of their reproductive health roles and responsibilities and may not bring the desired behavioral change which is decisive for improved gender relations and positive reproductive health outcomes. This paper thus aims at analyzing the reproductive health communication and promotion discourses to see how males are represented / constructed. It also attempts to examine the social construction of male involvement in reproductive health. To do so, the content and structure of reproductive health policy and program documents, and public messages will be analyzed. Primary data will also be obtained from reproductive health education lessons and in-depth individual interviews in the rural areas of Ethiopia. The findings of the study are intended to have implications to reproductive health program

This paper examines effect of socio-economic-demographic and community factors on the awareness about sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services available at primary health facilities among rural men in Tamil Nadu, India. This study was conducted on awareness and perception about SRH problems and awareness of SRH services available at public health facilities from 343 men in the age group of 18-54 years from Tamil Nadu, India by using systematic stratified sampling method. To estimates net effect of the each variable on likelihood of awareness on SRH services available at public health services; logistic regression model was applied. The results reveal that about half of respondents are aware of availability of SRH services at public health facilities, followed by RTI/STI services, and HIV/AIDS test services. Multivariate analysis show that men with six and above years of schooling, those with high standard of living, watch cinema frequently, and full exposure to mass media are significantly more likely to be aware of SRH services being available at public health facilities. In addition, those from villages near the district headquarters and those living in villages with more frequent bus services are significantly more likely to be aware of such services than those from remote villages with less frequent bus services.