Breaking the habit

MALE involvement and engagement in health programmes has been deemed as an
essential factor in family planning and sexual reproductive health issues.
It is the patriarchal nature that men are not engaged with issues such as sexual
reproductive health and even the upbringing of the children as theirs was to work
and fend for the family.
This in turn has, however, affected the uptake of health issues by men.
Men engagement and involvement is one of the concepts that is being championed
by the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) in order to encourage
men to seek medical attention and to get information on family planning and
reproductive health issues, together with their spouses.
It has however, been a habit in which very few men go for regular check-ups, making
it difficult for them to get early treatment.
In an interview, ZNFPC acting Provincial Manager, Olga Muza, encouraged men to
have health seeking behaviour and to be screened early for prostate cancer.
“When we are looking at male involvement, we are encouraging men to be engaged
in issues to do with family planning and sexual reproductive health.
“Statistically, women visit health facilities to get screened for cancers such as
cancer of cervix and breast cancer but when it comes to men, very few accesses
health information.
“We have a male clinic, which operates every Friday and, in that clinic, you will only
get two to three men coming for consultations.
“Men should be involved so that they don’t come to the clinic late when they would
have reached the late stages of prostate cancer.”
Early detection was very important, she said and at times some men will be moving
around not knowing that probably they have prostate cancer because they don’t go
for screening.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and early detection is essential
in saving lives. Normally, men tend to visit the hospital when they are seriously ill.