Healthy Families, Brighter Futures Family Planning

In a predominantly traditional society where women and girls’ social status is low and characterised by the ownership of land — what does the male role or involvement in family planning mean to Ugandans? Adong walked into the clinic very disturbed and clearly angry about something. “I just wish death could take me away, because my husband is abusive towards me,” cried Adong, who had come to the clinic to have the implant removed from her arm. She looked very scared and as she sat on the chair she kept looking behind, as if she was expecting someone to strike at her. Shortly, her husband stormed in. He demanded that the family planning method that his wife was using should be removed from her arm and that he has never concerted to this. Noticing a dispute between Adong and her husband the nurse requested that they come to her office. She then asked them to explain the problem at hand. Adong’s husband said he has never advised his wife to use those things (contraceptives) because according to him the role of the women is to give birth to children, he snapped. It was obviously a very difficult situation for the nurse who noticed that the couple were angry and needed some counselling. In a very professional manner the nurse started counselling the couple. According to UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. “It is men who usually decide on the number and variety of sexual relationships, timing and frequency of sexual activity and use of contraceptives, sometimes through coercion or violence”. At the Karin Health facility, it is not only wives who are threatened by men, health workers have faced hostility from the men who accuse them of ruining families. For Nurse Betty, she was confronted by several men who have threatened to “teach her a lesson” if she continues to confuse their wives. Health practitioners fear that the target of reducing maternal deaths will not be met without concerted efforts of all, including men. To reduce the myths and misconceptions that men have towards family planning, the organisation should continue to create awareness about different methods fr men and women. We urge you to support this cause several programs are running that involve men for example football games where the health practitioners take time to disseminate family planning information. All this cannot be done without your support. Today, we are asking for a few clicks of your mouse: take 5 minutes to share our GlobalGiving page with your contacts and tell them why you decided to donate to us and why they should do the same. Thank you for your support!

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