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Contraception use among males dismal 0.1 percent: Official
Men's active participation in the government's family planning program is minuscule, with just 0
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Men's active participation in the government's family planning program is minuscule, with just 0.1 percent of the province's 625,000 fertile couples using contraception, a senior official said.
"The active participation of the island's men in the family planning program keeps decreasing," Head of Bali's National Family Planning Coordinating Body (BKKBN), I Ketut Sutjita, said Wednesday.
Speaking on the sidelines of a vasectomy training clinic for the island's physicians and nurses, Sutjita said that the 2007 figure of 0.1 percent is far below the national target.
The National Development's target for male contraception use is eight percent of the total number of fertile couples.
The most common methods for male contraception are condoms and vasectomies. Other methods, particularly withdrawal (coitus interruptus) and abstinence during a female's fertile period, are considered less effective.
Females still form the bulk of the family planning program's active base. "They account for 70 percent of participation," Sutjita added.
"The program's policies and political commitments still display a gender bias because most of the available contraceptive devices and medications, as well as the advocacy activities, are directed at women," he said.
Sutjita disclosed that even at the national level, the male's active participation in family planning is still below the national target, albeit higher than Bali's percentage.
The national percentage of male contraception users is one percent, which is lower than what has been achieved by other predominantly Muslim countries such as Pakistan (5.2 percent), Bangladesh (14 percent) and Malaysia (17 percent).
Research indicates low participation among men is caused by the low number of male-oriented family planning campaigns, the prevalent mind set that family planning is the women's responsibility and the paternalistic social structure.
Given the current state of the family planning program, Sutjita predicted the island's population would increase by four percent to 3.9 million in 2009.
Gede Wirya Kusuma Duarsa, an urology surgery specialist with the Sanglah Central Hospital, said vasectomies are one of the simplest and safest birth control methods for men.
"Unfortunately, a large number of men are reluctant to undergo the procedure because they associated vasectomy with impotence. That is a myth, yet many men still fear it," he said.
Duarsa pointed out that surveys of men who had vasectomies revealed that they did not experience any adverse effects, physical or emotional.
In fact, he added, 61 percent of respondents claimed their sexual satisfaction actually increased after the procedure.
Unfortunately, a large number of people are apparently unaware of such information. Ni Wayan Merta, a mother of five children, is one of them. She said she would never ask her husband to undergo a vasectomy.
"I feel guilty (to even ask him)," she said.
Sutjita stated that a lot of hard work is required to change the biased paradigm. "Men have an equal responsibility to women in family planning," he said.
