Pakistan Stakeholders Strongly Support Involving Men in Family Planning

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (June 16, 2015) – Over the past six decades Pakistan’s population program has predominantly focused on women, with little attention played to men’s role in health and household decision making. To help change course and inform future programming, the Evidence Project and the Population Council Pakistan convened a National Consultative Meeting on Involving Men in Family Planning June 16, 2015 in Islamabad. The meeting was particularly timely, given that Pakistan has proposed holding a National Population Summit in November 2015 to develop its Plan of Action. The consultation provided an opportunity to discuss the evidence and share views about male involvement, thereby paving the way for the Plan to include a strong male engagement strategy.

More than 60 stakeholders who shape population and health policies and programs in the country attended the consultation. They included representatives of the federal government, provincial assemblies, provincial health and population welfare departments, donor organizations, and NGOs.

The consultation began with a synthesis of the evidence from recent studies conducted in Pakistan by the Evidence Project, Population Council and others. The data show that men are ready to be more involved in family planning because of economic pressures and concern about their wife’s health. Men also want quality services and access to information.

Ms. Seemin Ashfaq, Deputy Director (Programs), Population Council, presented findings from a case study conducted by the Evidence Project of the Family Advancement for Life and Health (FALAH) Project, implemented in 2008-12 by the Population Council. FALAH reached more than nine million married women and men in 20 districts across Pakistan’s four major provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Baluchistan. The case study, “Engaging the Missing Link: Evidence from FALAH for Involving Men in Family Planning” looks specifically at the communication interventions targeting men and their outcomes.

“A distinguishing feature of FALAH was the active involvement of men from the beginning in creating a supportive and conducive environment for family planning,” explains Ms. Ashfaq.

FALAH used male community volunteers, men’s group meetings, religious leaders, community theatre, and radio and television to communicate positive messages about birth spacing and contraceptive methods. The case study’s analysis shows, depending on the intervention, significant positive changes in men’s approachability if their wife wished to discuss family planning, initiation of a conversation about family planning with their wife, and use of any type of contraceptive method.

“What was exciting about the consultation was that participants echoed many of the recommendations that emerged from the FALAH male involvement case study as being critical to a national male engagement strategy,” notes Dr. Zeba Sathar, Population Council’s Country Director in Pakistan.

Participants called for engaging the support of religious leaders; mounting behavior change communication campaigns; introducing male community-based health workers to provide men with information, counseling, and contraceptives; and focusing on birth spacing as a key communication message.

“I feel that the consultation achieved strong buy-in from those who are in a position to develop a comprehensive, evidence-based male involvement strategy as part of Pakistan’s Family Planning Plan of Action,” concludes Dr. Sathar.

Read the Consultation Report
Read the FALAH Case Study
Read the Policy Paper