Cultural taboo: Male reproductive health centres absent in Pakistan

Educating men on contraceptives issues improves both mother and child health, says expert

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan lacks a dedicated healthcare centre for men that can provide information about male reproductive health and family planning issues.

A majority of the country’s healthcare centres provide family planning services for married couples. There is not a separate one for males where they could avail services along with receiving the required information.

Population Council country director Pakistan Zeba Sathar said that studies conducted in Pakistan suggest that men desire to remain involved in family planning intervention decisions.  However, they lack dedicated centres from where they could obtain information.

She said in it is a fact that in a male dominated society like Pakistan men are major decision makers in families. Without their consent a woman cannot even plan how many children she could have.

“In our country discussing family planning interventions is still considered to be a taboo. There are many couples especially men feeling hesitant about visiting family planning centres along with their spouses to seek information related to sexual reproductive issues,” she said.

Sathar also said by educating men about the importance of using contraceptives can help a lot to improve both mother and child health.

“Through this they could know the importance of birth spacing for a woman and how to live a healthy life,” she said.

A study conducted by the Population Council in June 2015 titled, “Engaging the Missing Link: Evidence from FALAH for Involving Men in Family Planning in Pakistan reveals that male respondents expressed their frustration at various levels. They have no source of information available to them at the community level and listed several reasons for not using contraceptive methods. This includes the non-availability of contraceptives, experienced and perceived side-effects of contraceptives, contraceptive failure, and contraceptive costs.

The study shared data from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2012-13 and other research studies that show that men are supportive of family planning in Pakistan. The found that 76 per cent of men (86 per cent urban and 72 per cent rural) disagreed with the idea that contraception is a woman’s issue. They did not agree with the fact that men should not have to worry about it.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2015.