CONTENTS
Chapters
- New Attention to Men
- Men Make a Difference
- New Survey Findings About Men
- Gender and Reproductive Behavior
- Couple Communication
- Lessons Learned and Program Implications
HIGHLIGHTS
Population Reports is published by the Population Information Program, Center for Communication Programs, The
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland
21202-4012, USA
Volume XXVI, Number 2
October, 1998
Series J, Number 46 |
Strengthening Men's Participation Activities
Increasing men's participation involves more than program activities conventionally associated
with men, such as preventing and treating STDs, promoting condom use, or opening male clinics.
It also involves encouraging a range of positive reproductive health and social behavior by men
to help ensure women's and children's well-being (60, 101, 110, 251, 262).
As the new thinking has evolved, a consensus is forming. To improve women's and men's
reproductive health, policies and programs must:
- Encourage men to take more responsibility for their sexual behavior;
- Increase men's access to reproductive health information and services;
- Help men to communicate with their partners and make contraceptive choices together; and
- Address the reproductive health care needs of couples (27, 32, 60,
61, 100,
157, 209, 210, 221, 222, 259, 276).
The changes needed in men's sexual and reproductive behavior suggest that programs
should focus on communicating with men and couples (12, 101, 209). Since
1990 the number of reproductive health activities that include men has increased
sharply (59, 100).
New studies of men and couples, creative interventions, and extensive HIV/AIDS-prevention
outreach efforts have yielded a number of lessons that can help programs
communicate with male audiences, encourage men's positive health behavior,
and provide information and services that men want (see Lessons
Learned and Program Implications). |
