Source: Tanzania Daily News
MALE chauvinism can be traced as far back as humanity and despite efforts by various governments and civil society organisations to end the social anomaly, women continue being reduced to second-class citizens who have no say over matters concerning their lives.

It remains unfortunate that many African societies carry on clinging onto out-dated cultural practices, values and norms that deprive women of their rights especially when it comes to sexual health.

Societies worldwide conditioned men into believing that they have every say when it comes to sexual health matters, while at the same time have little role to play when it comes to helping their wives.

And this country is not an exception as cultural and religious beliefs are resulting in women suffering in various ways.

It is against this background that the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) has been implementing the Tanzanian Men as Equal Partners (TMEP) project in Rukwa and Singida regions to enlighten men and make them willing participants in issues related to sexual reproductive health rights (SRHR).

According to a survey conducted by TMEP in the regions, male dominance was the order of the day as men were reluctant to participate in family planning programmes, refusing to accompany their pregnant wives to antenatal clinics and it was a taboo for men to be seen helping their wives with household chores.

The ones who dared to try it were mocked and labelled as having been given an African concoction popularly known as limbwata that is used by women to pacify their husbands.

However, things are beginning to change as positive results can be seen following the introduction of the programme.

According to the TMEP Project Manager, Cuthbert Maendaenda, TMEP challenges negative cultural beliefs that make people fail to exercise their rights to sexuality and reproductive health information, education and services.

"The project has been implemented since 2010 and is aimed at increasing access to and utilisation of reproductive health including HIV and AIDS.

It is run in collaboration with local NGOs namely Health Associations Promotion Actions (HAPA) in Singida and Resource Oriented development Initiative (RODI) in Rukwa," Maendaenda said.

Despite all the odds of cultural and religious beliefs, the project has been well accepted by communities and leaders at all levels, as a result positive results have been achieved.

The project is implemented in eight districts and 158 wards across the two regions and uses methods developed by RFSU to stimulate critical dialogue on sexuality, SRHR, gender, and male involvement and participation.

Statistics availed by TMEP show that last year (2013), the project managed to achieve a 93 per cent increase in number of men who attended SRHR clinics for PMTCT that is 27,408 (2013) as compared to 14,192 of 2012.

This development confirms that men are becoming agents of change as well as partners. Utilisation of family planning services by men as clients and as partners in the areas of project implementation increased by 115 per cent in the year 2013 compared to year 2012.

"Young men and adult men have increasingly attended sessions on gender, SRHR and male involvement.

As a result, the increased access to educational activities has created demand for SRH services that the health sector in the two regions is challenged to meet," according the 2013 TMEP Annual Report.

The report also unveiled that while the number of attendances for HIV/AIDS voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) has doubled from those reported in 2012, the number of those accessing ARVs has dropped from 62,165 (2011) to 23,281 (2013). Overall, the project maintained the trend to reach more men than women, as designed.

Males have continued to access SRHR IEC more than women with young men leading. Compared to previous years, while access by young and adult men was slightly decreased, access by young and adult women increased.

The increase trend by men in accessing SRHR information and education imply a high unmet need for the information and education that create a big challenge to sustainability.

Percentage of men and women who have ever heard of sexual and reproductive health and rights has increased significantly.

The TMEP baseline study in 2010 observed that only 56 per cent of men and 58 per cent of women interviewed in Rukwa reported to have ever heard about SRH rights.

But, during the end line study conducted in 2013, the percentage men and women reported to have heard about SRH rights increased to 99.1 per cent and 99.2 per cent respectively.

In Singida the percentage of the same increased from 41 per cent to 97.5 per cent amongst men and from 40 per cent to 93.6 per cent amongst women. The report also indicated that visits to family planning (FP) services by men increased from 22,138 in 2012 to 47,691 in 2013 constituting 115 per cent.

"These visits were made by men as clients or as partners accompanying their partners or collecting contraceptive supplies for their partners. Attendances for FP services by women slightly decreased by 1 per cent from 170,129 in 2012 to 167,925, last year.

"We definitely acknowledge the efforts by TMEP. We appreciate their deliberate move to bring men on board and for centuries now we have been trying to influence them; however, we need to balance between raising the demand and also delivering the service from the supply side," said a health provider in Ilongero, Singida.

The worker added that while they are happy that more and more people are coming for the services, they were not sure if they were going to be able to provide the service to everyone.

And a recent visit by the TMEP Secretariat team revealed that despite many men changing their behaviour, they become agents of change as they turn out to be role models in their areas, teaching others on the right way to treat their spouses.

A 56 year-old Swaila Primary School teacher in Mkwamba Ward, Nkasi District, identified as Mr Sindani revealed that the introduction of the TMEP programme brought with it significant changes.

"In my ward, a day could not pass without hearing people fighting. Even the police could stay at their offices, ready to receive the cases, but things are getting better following the introduction of the TMEP project.

The cases have reduced and most of the people are living in peace," said Mr Sindani. The primary schoolteacher, who boasts of 32 years teaching experiences, said that TMEP project increased love between married couples and reduced male domination in most households such that people are asking where this project was all along.

"As for me, I sired five children and agreed with my wife two years ago after getting education from TMEP project, that we remove her womb to avoid bearing more children.

As if it was not enough, my wife went on to educate two of her friends who were just bearing children without the capacity to take care of them. They were convinced and also used the same method of family planning."

Another beneficiary, Charles Kidorinzi, the Mitundi Ward Executive Officer, in Manyoni District received training of trainers (ToT) training from TMEP project and as a good leader, he saw it fit for the people under his leadership to change for the best.

"It is my mission to educate community members about male involvement in SRHR. In May last year, I started youth groups for edutainment whereby they play soccer or any other game and after that we provide SRH and MI education," he said.

According to him, this has helped because now youths are open and they freely talk about the subject without fear though at first they used to be very shy and afraid of talking about sexuality issues in public.

"In terms of school pregnancies, they reduced from nine in 2012 to 2 in 2013. At first it was difficult to handle the situation because parents had no control over the children.

I decided to call them for meetings with parents and religious leaders here and there to educate them on SRH education especially on the use of condoms," he added. He also said the auctions and market business rife in the area used to contribute a lot to school pregnancies.

The money made through the market could lure schoolgirls and to deal with this, I made sure that in all guest houses, there are boxes of condoms and they are placed in open places.

I believe this did not only contribute to prevention of unwanted pregnancies, but also the spread of HIV/AIDS," Kidorinzi said. These are just but part of changes and successes realised by the TMEP project in the two regions the project is being implemented.

Though recognisable changes and tangible results are seen, more men in the country should borrow a leaf from those in Singida and Rukwa regions to bring change in their areas.

It is high time men change for the better and treat their wives as equal partners whose sexual reproductive health rights are respected and promoted for the betterment of the society. Together we will win this war.

• Tanzania