Men receive vasectomy to easen family planning

In new development in Rwanda, some men have started receiving vasectomy. It is indeed against African tradition and indeed the Rwandan tradition to have men incapacitated in reproduction. A man who could not produce children any more would be regarded as an out cast or a social misfit. “There are men who have received vasectomy. Vasectomy is the surgical cutting of the sperm duct. Over 20 men from Nyagatare hospital and about 15 men from Bushenge hospital have already received vasectomy. To this we are happy that families are working together in understanding what family planning is”, says Nsabimana. The assumption behind this development could be that men have now understood the importance of family planning. They are therefore ready to do everything at their reach to minimize the number of children. This is so encouraging if all men developed the same attitude we would no longer have a serious demographic problem. “I have no plan of giving birth to more kids and that’s why I went for vasectomy after agreeing it with my wife. It’s a good thing because you are given the courage to build a happy home. I do encourage men who are done with producing children, to go for vasectomy because it’s the best family planning method”, says the 50 years old Kamanzi. Since our society is by matter of fact still patriarchal, men have got to champion the implementation of family planning. It is wrong to only focus on women when teaching family planning methods. There should be for example strong counseling programs that will help to sensitize men and women alike on issues pertaining family planning. “Training health personnel can give accurate information about vasectomy, how to use pills, condom use and can identify conditions that rule out using pills in some clients with regular monitoring to ensure compliance, observes Dr. George Gahenda. He adds that the Ministry of health is beginning to attract men seeking to learn how to implement family planning methods. It is encouraging the use of mass media and continual training programs, to try to reach both men and women and pass the required information. The struggle will be long but the few trials show that there is a lot of optimism in the whole peocess. Ends