Men Barriers to Family Planning
By Yolanda Fuertes
Philippine Daily Inquirer
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(created 6/22/04 10:39:00 am)
LINGAYEN --
Pangasinan-Men, and their macho mentality, are still
the major obstacles to the government family planning program, a study showed.
The study was presented by the Local Enhancement and
Development for Health (Lead for Health), an organization
connected with the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID), during a recent workshop here.
The study, conducted in Metro Manila, Northern Luzon,
Southern Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, showed that
a major barrier to family planning was the disapproval
of husbands or partners to the use of family planning
methods by their wives or partners.
But the men objected to family planning because they
were afraid of the methods' perceived side effects
on their wives or partners, Grace Migallos and Nina
Lojo, who presented the study, said.
Midwives said, however, that it was the lack of information
among the public that hindered the successful implementation
of the family planning program.
Disapproval of husbands or partners ranked next as
a hindrance to family planning, according to them.
Men, aside from not allowing their partners to use
family planning methods, do not also want to be responsible
for planning their families, provincial population
officer Luz Muego said.
In Pangasinan, women still bear the burden of planning
their families, Muego said, adding that women preferred
pills and injectables among the family planning methods
that are available to them.
The government has been hesitant in fully promoting
artificial family planning methods amid Church objections.
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