Youth Net and Counselling (YONECO) has termed men as crucial in addressing misconceptions that are lowering the uptake of family planning services among women and adolescent girls.

YONECO’s DMPA-SC family planning project Coordinator Eunice Banda made the remarks on Thursday during a family planning training for men peer educators from Traditional Authority Mponda in Mangochi.

Banda said some of the misconceptions are linked to men and adolescent girls.

“For the young adolescent girls if they are using family planning methods that in the near future they will not bear children. For women who are using family planning, men say they feel that they are not being satisfied during sex,” she said.

Banda therefore said they engaged the men peer educators as one way of addressing the misconceptions.

“We have seen that the male involvement is on a lower side so we feel that having men as men peer educators from the facilities that we are targeting will actually be helpful because they will be reaching out to more men on issues of family planning.

“In any men’s setting whether it is at the Bawo or at the lake, we want these men peer educators to actually take up the role to lead discussions-get issues from the men and find ways together to see how we can sort all that out.”

In his remarks one of the participants, Ibrahim Msusa who is also chairperson of Mpondasi Community Based Organisation, applauded YONECO for empowering him to address the misconceptions on family planning services in his community.

Msusa said he will engage his fellow men through different forums in order to increase uptake of family planning services among the youth and women.

YONECO is implementing DMPA-SC family planning project in the areas of Traditional Authorities Chimwala, Mponda, Chowe, Namkumba, Namabvi and Makanjira in Mangochi with funding from FHI 360.