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.