Vasectomy theatre, equipment lie idle

13 Dec, 2014 - 22:12 0 Views

The Sunday News

THE vasectomy theatre and equipment at the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) offices at Spilhaus Centre in Harare are lying idle and gathering dust, as men continue to be reluctant to take up permanent contraception, it has been revealed.
Vasectomy is a permanent method of birth control in men which is done by surgically preventing sperm from entering into the seminal stream which prevents fertilisation from occurring.

The contraception method is said to be irreversible, although some countries in the First World with advanced technology have discovered ways to reverse it.

Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) marketing and communications manager Mr Simon Chikwizo told Sunday News last week that the uptake of permanent contraception among men has been neglected since the method was introduced in the country over a decade ago.

Mr Chikwizo said women proved more open to permanent contraception compared to their male counterparts.

He blamed myths and cultural beliefs among other factors as the reasons why men were shunning the method in preference to temporary methods such as condoms.

“For women we do what we call female sterilisation and for men it’s called vasectomy. It’s meant to be a permanent method given to those who are sure that they will not want more children.

“The uptake of permanent method by females is fairly good as compared to their male counterparts. Because of cultural beliefs, myths and misconceptions, very few men have been taking this permanent birth control method despite it being offered for free,” he said.

“We haven’t done any vasectomy surgeries in a very long time and the facility is there lying idle. It’s the same case at other medical centres across the country which offer the service, uptake is very negligible.”
Mr Chikwizo said despite the many myths and misconceptions associated with vasectomy, the method remained an effective way of birth control, and encouraged men to take it up.

He said the method was safe and did not affect sexual performance as feared by most men.
“It is a safe, simple and convenient surgery which can be done in a few minutes.

The method is very effective in birth control. No effect on sexual ability or feelings.
“The biggest advantage is that men will be in charge of family planning and you know whenever men are given the responsibility of leading, success is guaranteed,” he said.

Mr Chikwizo said although data showed that the country had a high contraception rate of about 98 percent, the same data also showed that men preferred using condoms more than any other form of contraception.

Statistics from ZNFPC show that over 300 million male and female condoms were distributed nationwide between 2009 and last year.

However, of the total, 287 million were male condoms, while only 16,4 million were female condoms, dispatched between the same period.

The figures above only represent condoms that were distributed by the Ministry of Health and Child Care through public health institutions.

Mr Chikwizo said in light of the apparent low appreciation of permanent contraception among the country’s male population, his organisation had embarked on an aggressive campaign to promote vasectomy.

The Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council, mandated by Government, is working on reducing the country’s fertility rate from 3,8 children to three children per woman by 2020, and Mr Chikwizo said permanent contraception might be one of the ways that would assist in achieving the goal.

He said his organisation was also targeting to have 80 percent of the country’s health institutions offering vasectomy by 2020.

“We are doing male motivation campaigns countrywide and male involvement in family planning programmes.

“We are also doing road shows, media campaigns, outreaches and the appointment of male motivators in family planning has worked out well in mobilising more men to take up permanent methods.

“Our intention as ZNFPC was to have 80 percent of health institutions in the country offering the service by 2020 if resources were availed,” said Mr Chikwizo.

He, however, bemoaned lack of resources as one of the major challenges that may handicap efforts to promote vasectomy, as well as train health workers on performing the procedure and rolling it out to more health institutions in the country.

 

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