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The male versus female perspective on family planning: Kinshasa, Zaire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Jane T. Bertrand ,
Bakutuvwidi Makani ,
Michael P. Edwards ,
Nancy C. Baughman ,
Kinavwidi Lewu Niwembo  and
Balowa Djunghu
Jane T. Bertrand
Affiliation:
Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, USA
Bakutuvwidi Makani
Affiliation:
CITRED, Kinshasa, Zaire
Michael P. Edwards
Affiliation:
Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, USA
Nancy C. Baughman
Affiliation:
Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, USA
Kinavwidi Lewu Niwembo
Affiliation:
CITRED, Kinshasa, Zaire
Balowa Djunghu
Affiliation:
Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, USA
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Summary

Males have often been neglected in both family planning programmes and in surveys used to design and evaluate such programmes. A 1988 study on fertility, family planning and AIDS in Kinshasa, Zaire, provides comparable data on 3140 men and 3485 women of reproductive age which served as the basis for analysing male/female differences. The study indicated a fair degree of similarity in the attitudes, beliefs, knowledge levels and practices of men and women regarding fertility and family planning. Where they differed (e.g. on expected or ideal number of children, the desire for more children at parity 7 or above), men tended to be more pronatalist than women. The implications of the findings for future family planning programmes are discussed. Programmes should target males because of their role as decision makers within Zairian society.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , January 1996 , pp. 37 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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