Integration of reproductive health service for men in health and family welfare centers in Bangladesh

Over the last 30 years, Bangladesh’s national family planning (FP) program has mainly concentrated its promotional efforts on women’s adoption of FP. While the government policy has been effective in influencing women to accept contraceptive methods, men’s role in FP has been completely neglected. Similarly, male RH services are hardly available at Health and Family Welfare Centres (HFWCs). This report describes a project aimed at integrating male RH services within the existing government female-focused health-care-delivery system. The study was implemented by NIPORT in collaboration with the Directorate of Family Planning and the Population Council. Interventions resulted in a substantial rise of male clients in the clinics, however nearly all came for the treatment of general health problems. Only a small number of male RTI/STI clients sought services from the clinics. Although unexpected, there was a substantial rise in the number of female clients. The study concluded that RH services for men could be easily integrated into HFWCs without affecting the female and child focus of the clinics and that augmentation of the total number of patients at HFWCs will lead to more effective use of resources and decreased cost of treatment.