Kebadnew Mulatu and Wubegzier Mekonnen
Introduction: Though women bear the physical, psychological and emotional strain of pregnancy and childbirth, it does not mean that fertility and contraception are based exclusively on the female population. The social roles of men who are dominant not only in decision making within the family, but also at community leadership have been overlooked. Most family planning programs give less emphasis to the understanding of men’s role in the effective and steadfast utilization of contraceptives.
Objectives: the main aim was to assess the role of men in long acting and permanent contraceptive use among currently married men aged 20-64 years in Mizan-Aman District, South Western Ethiopia.
Methods: A community based cross-sectional study with a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods was conducted. A total of 554 men were recruited for the study. Pre-tested and structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Odds ratio along with 95 % Confidence interval in binary logistic regression was used to assess the strength and significance of the association. Thematic analysis has also been used to analyze the qualitative data.
Results: A total of 521 men were included in the analysis. Only 11.5 % of the respondent's wives used long acting and permanent contraceptive. Discussions between couples about long acting and permanent contraceptive in the last 12 months (AOR=4: 95 % CI.1.9-8.2) and on the number of children they want to have (AOR=3.1: 95 % CI.1-9.2), accompanying wives to health facilities to discuss about family planning with health providers (AOR=2.7: 95 % CI. 1.3-5.6), and supporting the use of long acting and permanent contraceptive (AOR=4.5: 95 % CI. 1.6-12.5) were significantly associated with the utilization of long acting and permanent contraceptive by men compared to their respective counterparts.
Conclusions and recommendations: The role of males’ in Long Acting and Permanent Contraceptive Use is low. Discussion between couples on the use of LAPMs and on the number of children they should have; and men’s approval of long acting and permanent contraceptive’ utilization has been associated with the utilization of it. Health extension workers should enhance discussion between couples and program officers should advocate discussion between couples and men’s awareness on Long Acting and Permanent Contraceptive Use
