The Hindu : New Delhi News : ‘Women keen on family planning but lack support’

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 11, 2007
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New Delhi

‘Women keen on family planning but lack support’

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Supporting the concept of involving men in ensuring women’s health, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says that at least 200 million women globally want to use family planning methods, but lack access to information, services or support of their husbands and communities. In many countries, poverty and profound inequalities limit women’s ability to plan their pregnancies.

In a statement issued here on the eve of the World Population Day, the UNFPA said data showed that communication between a man and his wife on family planning was closely linked to successful contraceptive use.

A failure to communicate that is often linked to traditional sex roles can limit family planning.

Further, a large fraction of married men aged 25-39 reported that they did not discuss family planning with their partners.

Data also shows that more men are likely to approve contraceptive use than women think, and 90 per cent of men (36 of the 46 surveyed countries) knew about either one or more traditional and modern methods of contraception.

Every year some 14 million adolescent girls (15-19 years) give birth worldwide. For this age group, complications of pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of death, unsafe abortions being a major factor.

Women in developing countries often experience three delays to reaching critical care including delay in recognising complications and deciding to seek care, reaching a health care facility and receiving emergency obstetric care there. In many countries, custom prescribes that a woman should deliver at home, and the approval of the husband or other men in the household may be needed to ensure that a woman gets the skilled care and backup services.

The UNFPA believes that men can support women’s needs and choices in obtaining timely life-saving care. Men and women can together plan to ensure that preparations are made for skilled delivery during childbirth and potential complications.

Men’s involvement in prevention includes providing support, sharing rights and responsibilities in pregnancy and parenthood, and learning about family planning and other aspects of reproductive health.

Their involvement also extends to obtaining treatment, ending discrimination and strengthening health systems.

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