WOMEN'S AND CHILDREN'S HEALTH KNOWLEDGE HUB
COMPASS
BRIEFING PAPER
FEBRUARY 2013
Father and child, Lawari, Pentecost Island, Vanuatu Credit: Graham Crumb http://imagicity.com
Men and maternal and newborn health
Benefits, harms, challenges and potential strategies for engaging men Jessica Davis, Stanley Luchters, Wendy Holmes Centre for International Health, Burnet Institute, Australia
Jessica Davis, Stanley Luchters, Wendy Holmes (2012) Men and maternal and newborn health: benefits, harms, challenges and potential strategies for engaging men, Compass: Women's and Children's Health Knowledge Hub. Melbourne, Australia. For further information regarding this working paper please contact: Jessica Davis, Burnet Institute
[email protected] Compass: Women's and Children's Health Knowledge Hub 85 Commercial Road Melbourne, Victoria Australia 3001 +61 3 9282 2160 http://wchknowledgehub.com.au http://twitter.com/WCHHub This work has been funded by AusAID through Compass: Women's and Children's Health Knowledge Hub. The views represented here are not necessarily those of AusAID or the Australian Government.
Compass: Women's and Children's Health Knowledge Hub is a partnership between the Burnet Institute, Menzies School of Health Research and the Centre for International Child Health, University of Melbourne. The Knowledge Hubs for Health are an Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) initiative that aims to build knowledge, evidence and expertise and inform health policy dialogue relevant to Asia and the Pacific. http://wchknowledgehub.com.au http://twitter.com/WCHHub
CONTENTS Abbreviations
4
Executive Summary
5
1. Introduction
7
1.1 Background
7
1.2 Rationale: why engage men in maternal and newborn health?
7
2. Purpose and research questions
9
3. Method
9
4. Potential benefits of involving men in services that promote maternal and child health
10
4.1 Family planning and use of contraceptives
10
4.2 Antenatal care attendance and health during pregnancy
10
4.3 Birth preparedness, intrapartum and postnatal care
10
4.4 Newborn and infant health
11
4.5 Couple communication and emotional support for pregnant women
11
5. Possible harms from involving men
12
6. Challenges and barriers to male involvement
13
7. Strategies for male involvement
14
7.1 General principles for increasing male involvement
14
7.2 Community-based initiatives
15
7.3 Workplace-based initiatives
15
7.4 Group education
16
7.5 Mass media campaigns
16
7.6 Clinic-based initiatives to engage men
16
7.7 Motivating men to support maternal and child health
19
8. Discussion and conclusion
20
References
22
Annex 1. Characteristics of intervention studies
26
Men and maternal and newborn health: benefits, harms, challenges and potential strategies for engaging men
Abbreviations
4
ANC
Antenatal care
CHTC
Couples HIV testing and counselling
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus
HTC
HIV testing and counselling
IUD
Intrauterine device
NGO
Non-government organisation
PPTCT
Prevention of parent to child transmission of HIV
RCT
R
