‘Involve men in family planning’

By PHOEBE GWANGILO
MARIE Stopes country director David Ayres says having both married couples receiving family planning could help prevent domestic violence.
“The issue we have is that women often get family planning without involving their husbands,” Ayers told The National on Friday.
He raised the issue after the tabling of the gender-based violence (GBV) report in the last week’s Parliament sitting that a lack of family planning was one of the contributing factors towards GBV.
Ayers said decisions that women made independently could help create problems.
“It may be a decision that they make independently or they haven’t discussed with their husband and this can create problems in home,” he said.
“In the Papua New Guinea context, it’s important that we get men involved in being aware of the benefits of family planning so that they can support their partners in getting family planning.
“For us, one of the really important things is that we are providing awareness and support to women and men.”
Ayers said there were benefits of family planning for both genders.
He said men could get family planning.
“Vasectomy is effective for men who don’t want to have children anymore.”
Meanwhile, Ayers said Marie Stopes was funded by international donors and worked in partnership with the Government.