65 Years: Engaging Men to Make Reproductive Health a Reality

For more than 65 years, EngenderHealth has been committed to ensuring that individuals have access to high-quality reproductive health care and can make informed choices. One of EngenderHealth’s major successes has been to bring long-acting methods of contraception, including vasectomy, to millions of people who have completed their families. Inherent in this approach is addressing men’s roles in reproductive health and family planning decision making. Indeed, EngenderHealth has long known that gains in reproductive health cannot be achieved and sustained without engaging men: Quality care is critical, yet the right to access it remains limited if women’s reproductive health decisions are not supported by their partners. Similarly, men have their own needs and the right to high-quality care.

Drawing on decades of expertise in working successfully with men, in 1996 EngenderHealth launched its Men As Partners® (MAP) program. MAP’s approach is holistic and recognizes that human rights and the health of individuals, families health, and communities are intertwined. MAP enhances men’s support for their partners’ sexual and reproductive health, increases men’s access to health care services, and inspires them to advocate for an end to violence against women and HIV prevention, so that all can realize lasting health and a better life.

Since its inception in South Africa, the MAP model has been adopted by local partners in more than 20 countries, transforming individuals, families, and communities. Evidence shows that MAP brings positive changes. For example, in Nepal, an evaluation found that after participating in MAP, the number of men accompanying their partners for antenatal care visits more than doubled. In Soweto, South Africa, two-thirds of men who went through the program went to get tested for HIV, whereas before MAP, they were reluctant to get tested.

Signs of growth and change are also more personal. Recently, a MAP participant commented, “Our society says, be rough, be tough, be a man. But there’s more to being a man. We can be sensitive, we can be careful, we can be gentle, we can be responsible.”  Testimonials like this illustrate how a sea change is occurring, with men treating their partners more equitably at home, seeking care from health facilities, and speaking out in their communities. Women report that after being exposed to MAP programs, their husbands are agreeing for the first time to wear condoms. Men who defended male dominance and violence now embrace gender equality and women’s rights.

The South African government adopted the MAP “I Am a Partner” pledge for their 16 Days of Activism campaign, and the second annual “Men As Partners Week” was held in the country from April 29 to May 4, 2008, with street rallies, mobile HIV testing, and theater events nationwide.

As part of its global advocacy efforts, EngenderHealth also co-founded MenEngage, an international alliance committed to involving men and boys in gender equality and violence prevention.

Across the globe, engaging men will remain a key focus of EngenderHealth’s work. As Dumisani Rebombo, Senior Program Officer for MAP in South Africa, noted, “Men should not be viewed as the problem, but as part of the solution. And MAP provides us the blueprint of how to get there.”

Watch EngenderHealth’s digital stories from South Africa and India, which feature MAP participants talking about their personal transformations.

View a report (PDF, 1.2mb) from the World Health Organization showing the positive impact of engaging men and boys to improve health and promote healthy behaviors.