Medical Experts Advocate Men Inclusion On Family Planning Advocacy

By Alice Sanni, Osogbo

Experts in reproductive health have harped on the need for involvement of men in the effort to get more women to take up family planning method to improve their health.

Decrying the low level of men involvement in family planning uptake in Osun, the medical experts said FP promotes maternal health by allowing women to control the timing and spacing of their pregnancies

According to them, freedom to choose when or when not to have a baby significantly reduces woman risk of serious health consequences and death, and provides her with much-needed time to regain her health in between pregnancies, hence the need for men to take active involvement in the uptake.

The group, working in collaboration with The Challenge Initiative (TCI), made the assertion yesterday at the Year 3 Endline Review Meeting of TCI’s Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) in Osun state.

Osun State Family Planning Coordinator, Mrs Ololade Abatan, during her presentation, said low male involvement was a drawback and a hurdle that must be crossed to increase family planning uptake in the state.

She said a lot of women and families were missing out on the benefits of adequate child spacing and optimal maternal health due to male hesitancy in adopting family planning.

Abatan argued that a lot of women who could have adopted family planning to improve their reproductive health were prevented by their partners who did not believe in such concept.

She added that the nonchalant attitude of some men towards family planning was responsible for the reluctance of other women who felt they needed the buy-in of their spouses before taking up family planning methods.

“We cannot do away with the involvement of men, especially where the man is the head of the family and whose nod of approval is critical before any important venture, such as family planning, is embarked upon.

“There is no doubt that we need the involvement of men in the effort to get more women to take up family planning methods to improve their health.

“In our bid to curb maternal morbidity and child mortality, we must speak to the conscience of our men in order to get them involved,” Abatan said.

The Adolescent Health Desk Officer, Roseline Akinlabi, in her remarks, highlighted the need to include teenagers in family planning programmes and advocacy in the state.

She said the NDHS 2023-24 data recorded that Osun has 7.3 percent teenagers who have ever been pregnant, urging that the demographic be included in future family planning advocacy.

“The truth is that our adolescents are very adventurous and active. Therefore, we need to make plans for them, especially in getting them acquainted with sexual and reproductive health myths and misconceptions.

“We must dispell myths, misconceptions and rumors for them. This will help them to make informed choices that will steer them away from truncating their dreams as a result of reckless and dangerous choices,” Akinlabi noted.

Agreeing with her, the Health Promotion Officer for Osogbo Local Government, Beatrice Iyanda, appreciated TCI for grooming mobilizers, who spread family planning message in a locality where male involvement is low.

She said a lot more needed to be done to get the menfolk to support family planning and for them to use long or short acting reversible contraceptives.

She said, “We must appreciate TCI for grooming mobilizers, who penetrate deep into the neighborhoods, telling people about the benefits of family planning. They are largely successful but for the challenge of male hesitancy which often discourage a lot of our women from taking up methods.”

Ola Raheem, who presented TCI’s perspective, focused on demand generation for family planning as it drives uptake in the state. He tasked media partners on using evidence based data to support their report.

He said media reporting is a critical tool for creating awareness and getting the buy-in of men for family planning adoption.

“Family Planning reporting should be evidence based. We must ensure statistics are taken from reliable sources to enhance believability of the reports.”

Analysis of quarter by quarter family planning reporting shows that there is an increase in quarter four compared to quarter three, even though quarter four is still ongoing.

“This is cheery news and I think we should sustain that,” he added.

Raheem urged Media Champions to scale up their advocacy reporting so as to increase family planning awareness and male involvement in the state.