Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare organized a one-day national workshop on the
promotion of male participation in family planning, here today. Smt. Vandana
Gurnani, Jt. Secretary inaugurated the workshop, which highlighted concrete
strategies to understand and incorporate the male perspective and male needs in
the same way as attention is given to women's perspectives and needs. The
Health Ministry through its sustained family planning efforts,
aims to increase male participation in family planning, with continued emphasis
on delivering assured services, generating demand and bridging supply gaps.
The
workshop also saw the launch of the Family Planning Logistics Management
Information System (FP-LMIS) manual. The FP-LMIS software was developed to facilitate
the management and distribution of contraceptives and is designed to provide
robust information on the demand and distribution of contraceptives to health
facilities and ASHAs and strengthen supply chain management. It is intended to
be a decision-making tool for policy makers, program managers and logistics
personnel to monitor and manage the flow of contraceptive supplies, in order to
reduce stockouts and overstocks, and improve the program’s effectiveness and
contraceptive security.
Male
participation in improving the reproductive health of couples is crucial. While
the permanent methods of contraception have traditionally found more acceptance
in India, the maximum number of acceptors are women. The World Vasectomy Day is
an event intended to raise global awareness on Vasectomy. The National Workshop
today is also a precursor and curtain raiser to the upcoming Vasectomy
Fortnight across States. All states/UTs across India will observe a dedicated
‘Vasectomy Fortnight’ from 21st November to 4th
December 2017 with commensurate publicity whereby quality male
sterilization services would be provided to clients at public health
facilities.
The
observation of a dedicated fortnight is intended to galvanize awareness on male
sterilization and thereby improve its acceptance in the community. The
Vasectomy Fortnight will be observed up to the block level with focus on Family
Planning service delivery along with IEC & advocacy.
The
theme of the workshop and the ‘Vasectomy Fortnight 2017’ is:
“Zimmedar Purush ki yehi
hai Pehchan, Parivar Niyojan mein jo de Yogdaan”
The observation of the
Vasectomy Fortnight 2017 will be conducted in two phases:
1.
Mobilization
phase (21st Nov – 27th Nov) - This fortnight is utilised for awareness
generation on the benefits of male contraception. IEC, especially on male
participation in Family Planning and addressing various myths associated with
it, will be available across public and accredited health care facilities.
2.
Service delivery phase (28th Nov – 4th Dec)
- In addition to awareness generation, all districts and blocks will organise
for provision of male sterilization services in this dedicated fortnight.
Male
participation in adoption of family planning has been a challenge along with
other numerous challenges that must still be overcome, particularly in terms
of raising public awareness around promoting and male engagement in family
planning services. The promotion of male participation is vital to the success
of the Family Planning programme. The theme of the workshop was in alignment with the
theme of the Vasectomy Fortnight and discussions during the workshop revolved
around a variety of topics such as:
·
Concerted efforts to promote male
involvement in Family Planning
·
Bolstering young men’s engagement in
adopting reproductive decisions
·
Bridging the gender gap
·
Addressing the sexual and reproductive
health needs of adolescents
The
eminent speakers at the workshop also included the pioneers of NSV in India who
addressed the gathering on the global scenario and the role of technical
agencies in promoting male participation. The state representatives highlighted
the respective strategies for improving the uptake and arresting the decline of
vasectomy services.
MV/SK ****