Involvement of Men in Family Planning. A Case of 37 Military Hospital

Abstract

Until recently, fertility and family planning research in developing countries, as well as policy and programme formulation, has generally relied on data collected from women. Increasingly, however, attention is being paid to the inclusion of men. Although women bear children and most modern contraceptives are female cantered, childbearing has an impact on men's lives too. This impact may be felt financially, if men accept the responsibility of supporting their children, and in a range of other ways, including the health and well-being of their wives and children. This main aim of the study was to explore involvement of men in family planning programmes. The specific objectives included identifying couples’ preferred family size; determining the level of male support to their partners in the use of contraceptives and family planning, investigating the socio-demographic characteristics of men who are involved in family planning and exploring the relationship between preferred family size and male involvement in family planning. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, 91 respondents were sampled for the study. The findings of the study suggest that men usually perform supportive roles to their partners instead of using family planning methods themselves. In addition, the preferred family size is influenced by spousal communication even though the men usually had an upper hand in deciding the number of children a couple would have. Involving men and obtaining their support and commitment to family planning is of crucial importance in the African region, given their elevated position in the African society.