Male Involvement

To End AIDS in Africa

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UNFPA promotes

Universal access to nine bundles of SRH services:

• Contraceptives
• Maternal & Newborn Health
• Post-abortion care, and safe abortion care to the full extent of the national laws
• HIV/STI
• GBV and other harmful practices
• Comprehensive Sexuality Education
• Reproductive Morbidities including cancers
• Sub-fertility/Infertility
• Sexual Health and Wellbeing

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positive masculinities, ensuring that interventions respect, protect and safeguard and promote the rights of women and girls and bodily autonomy

HUMAN RIGHTS BASED, PEOPLE-CENTRED AND GENDER TRANSFORMATIVE |

ACROSS THE LIFE COURSE BY LEAVING NO-ONE BEHIND | DEVELOPMENT AND HUMANITARIAN SETTINGS

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• Men Action Groups

• Husbands’ Schools

UGANDA

NIGER

Promising practices

ENGAGING MEN AND BOYS

• Men and Boys Network

• National Men Engagement Strategy

KENYA

MALAWI

• advancing gender equality and eliminating Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) through the Male Action Groups (MAGs)
• playing a more active role, including
• publicly voicing their opposition to the practice
• advocating for elimination

• Promoted the rights of women and girls including the sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights
• Enhanced the knowledge of the negative impacts of GBV and harmful practices, and
• Challenged negative social and gender norms

Uganda > Men Action Camps

RESULTS: Husbands are increasingly recognizing their wives as partners

Between 2021 and 2023: reached over 10,000 men and boys across the country who worked in:

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Dialogue within the couple – husbands understand better the importance of women’s health
• Increased in agreement by husbands for medical follow-up of pregnancy, newborns and for contraception f their communities
• Presence of husbands for the delivery at the health center. Fee has been put in place to stop at-home deliveries

• Improvement in relationships between health agents and populations in a number of communities
• Community level work (sanitation, construction of latrine blocks, consultation rooms, midwife accommodation, etc.)

Niger > Husbands’ Schools

Further work needed for more in-depth gender-transformative approaches to challenge traditional division of roles and responsibilities within couples and for full respect of women’s rights and bodily autonomy. Curriculum and approaches being revised to be truly TRANSFORMATIONAL.

Improvement in SRH indicators:

Engagement of men as actors for the development of their communities:

• National Male Engagement Strategy (2023-2030)
• National SRHR Strategy (2021-2025)
• National Health Sector Strategic Plan (2023-2030)

Malawi > Engaging Men and Boys

At the Policy level, formal of the role men and boys play for gender equality, GBV/HIV prevention and SRHR:

• Supported community dialogue sessions in male-dominated places (e.g. entertainment, businesses);
• Provided training and facilitation of the development of gender-transformative SRHR action plans for chiefs and religious leaders;
• Opened door-to-door SRHR information and service reach
• Allowed referrals of boys and men to designated health service delivery points.

Malawi > Engaging Men and Boys

Engaging men and boys for gender equality, GBV/HIV prevention and SRHR

Concluding Remarks

Ending AIDS requires the involvement of all populations

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Men have a role to play in ending AIDS

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The current male involvement interventions are small scale

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We need to accelerate community based outreach programs

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Shifting gender norms is a priority for success.

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