Title: Public Policies in promoting mens involvement in sexual and reproductive health in Mali
1Public Policies in promoting mens involvement
in sexual and reproductive health in Mali
- Rio de Janeiro, March 31 2009
- Global Symposium Engaging Men and Boys in
achieving gender equality
2- Landlocked country located in West Africa, with a
vast area of 1,241,238 km2 - Approximately 12 million inhabitants of whom
- more than 95 are Muslim
- HIV prevalence 1,3
- Modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate of
- 7 according to EDS IV 2006
- Important desire for birth spacing according to
EDS IV 2006 - 20 of women in cohabitation declare they do not
desire more children - 34 wish to wait more than 2 years before having
another child
3 Why do we need policies for Mens invovement
in sexual and reproductive health ?
- In many African countries including Mali, Men
play a key role of decisionmaker in the life of
the couple. - At the level of the household, the decision for
the family as a whole on - How ?
- When?
- Where ? Having health care is generally made by
the men.
4Elaboration and implementation of CME-RH policies
- Objective
- Improving the political environment in
favour of Constructive Men Engagement in
Reproductive Health. - Targets the Parliamentarians, the key
decisionmakers (other institutions of the
Republic and Ministries), health authorities,
the civil society, the decentralized
collectivities, youth leaders, community leaders,
and the financial and technical partners. - Challenges
- The allowance of sufficient resources to CME-RH
- Visibility of CME-RH in the existing policies and
strategies. -
5Mali approaches in constructive mens engagement
in RH
- The policy process on CME-RH has been carried
out according to a multi-sector and participatory
approach - Technical meeting on the Situation Analysis
based on the technical with Mary Kincaid and Ken
Morrisons technical assistance - Setting up of a piloting committee under the
guidance of the Head of the Reproductive Health
Division - Elaboration of the Draft on the Guideline CME-RH,
with the support from the Piloting commmittee - Completion and validation of the Guideline with
the multi sector RH/FP committee.
6Objectives
- Increase the capacities of stakeholders to set up
the strategies for Constructive Men Engagement
in matter of Reproductive Health - Improve the health of the family, of women and
children - Improve the health of the men themselves
- Create sustainable behavioral changes in matter
of Reproductive Health within the community.
7General Principles
- Being respectful of men and womens dignity and
being attentive to the equity between them - The engagement of men does not consist solely in
being additional customers it must also
contribute in a very responsible way in improving
the health of the women and of the family - The needs of young men must be taken into account
quite early and be clearly implemented in the
policies and programmes - The awareness received from the successful
experiences the existing capacities must be
taken into account .
8- Men Engagement is considered according to three
axes - Men as customers of RH services
- Men as support partners of women Reproductive
Health - Men as change agents within the community.
Religious leaders From Silence to Action
9How to improve reproductive health services for
men
- Advocacy on the importance of setting up
strategies to increase the use of RH services by
men to the political , administrative,
religious, community leaders and to the
technical and financial partners - Hiring and training peer educators, community
relays and other actors to provide RH services
adapted to the needs of men with every age and
social group and ultimately in every place - The organisation and the orientation of the
reference to men for a better coverage of their
sexual and reproductive health
10How to improve reproductive health services for
men
- The availability at the level of Health service
centers Friends of the Men, where the working
time table,and the information education and
communication tools will be adapted to the needs
of men within a more welcoming space - The availability of the information and sexual
reproductive health services for men in places
where they usually go for their health problems - The reinforcement of the logistic system to
ensure a regular supplying in RH products and
conveniencies which the men need
11Response to teenagers and youths needs
- The expansion of the services offer to the
teenagers and the youth down to the community
level - The sensitizing and training of boys, teenager
and youth associations about the various aspects
of RH and about mens and womens rights in RH - Boys must be trained pretty early into respecting
womens rights and dignity - The reinforcement of the trust and
confidentiality atmosphere among teenagers and
the youth in the time of their RH services
requests - The participation of the teenagers and the youth
to the designing and implementation of policies
and user friendly policies for the teenagers and
the youth
12 How to involve the youth?
- The reinforcement of the trust and
confidentiality atmosphere with teenagers and
youth in the time of their requests for RH
services - The participation of teenagers and youth to the
designing and implementation of the policies that
are relevant to them - Improving/creating user friendly services for
teenagers and youth - The developement of innovative initiatives for
the promotion of the RH at the level of the
formal and informal educative system - Encouraging the dialogue on sexual education
withing the family .
13How to promote the dialogue within the couple for
a shared decision making
-
- Communication for a behavior change at every
level and by every modern and traditional
communication canal on the rights in RH - Advocacy to the religious and community networks
for their engagement in to encourage the
dialogue, the shared decision making within the
couple - The involvement of the community relays and the
socio-sanitary staff for the promotion of the
dialogue within the couple - Improving the participation of the couple to
Family Planning through the feed-back of the
customers/ happy couples the RH services.
14How to promote the dialogue within the couple for
a shared decision making
- Objective
- Increase the number of couples that speak openly
about the RH within the family and the community. - Targets men, women, girls and boys, family,
community and religious leaders. - challenges
- Promoting communication on RH issues among men
and women in general - Getting men to know that RH is both womens and
mens concern.
15Capacity building of the actors in carrying out
CME-RH activities
- Elaboration of one CME strategy for USAID Mali so
as it can integrate it to all the projects in
Mali - Introducing RH and gender issues in the
curricula of the schools at every level of the
educative system - The training of the Ministry of Health Staff in
sexual and Reproductive Health, gender and the
strategies to reach the men and boys - Expansion of health information and the
availability on the workplaces of the men - The training and the involvement of the private
sector in order to provide user friendly services
for men. - The expansion of the training to the other
Ministries.
16Mali policies on CME-RH at community level?
- Under the leadership of the Ministry of Health
- Production and testing of a specific guideline on
the dialogue within the couple (with Ken
Morrisons support) - Training of community health workers (CHWs)
based on the specific guideline in the pilot
areas in collaboration with NGOs - Conduct of activities by the CHWs in
collaboration with NGOs - Activity monitoring
- Review of the guideline if necessary.
17CONCLUSION
- The implemention of the strategies on the
CME-RH Guide needs -
- The mobilzation , the participation of every
structure both public and private it requires
also the participation of the Civil Society , the
Technical and Financial Partners at every level .
- A strong commitment and an unfailing political
guidance from the highest authorities is
necessary for the implementation and the
dissemination of the policies on CME-RH - The Ministry of Health and the civil society and
the key actors taking ownership of the policy
from the very beginning. -
18- THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION