Sexual health needs and concerns of young men in Uganda
Document type: mthesis
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Abstract:
In Uganda, like most of the countries globally, the sexual health of men and especially young men has received, little or limited attention. Majority of the programs that are trying to target men are doing so mainly to use men as tools to get to the women especially in family planning related interventions. Globally, not much is known about male programs and interventions, how they function and what works best. The overall objective of this thesis is to identify the sexual health needs and concerns of young men in Uganda and effective approaches in meeting those needs, in order to develop recommendations for appropriate and effective interventions by those concerned. FINDINGS: For the majority of young men sexual health concerns are not medical. They include issues like erectile dysfunctions, impotence, penis size, homosexuality, masturbation, sex performance anxiety, esteem issues, relationship problems, urethral discharges, painful urination, sexual abuse, bullying, body changes, and communication issues on sexuality and other issues surrounding manhood. Young men know little about their own sexuality and that of their partners. They hardly communicate about sex in their relationships, and are often influenced by various sexual myths and misconceptions. Various factors influencing their sexual health include social cultural aspects, religious affiliations, family setting, poverty, peer pressure and education level. Therefore they need information and skills to make good informed decisions, to avoid peer pressure, take responsibility for their actions and be better communicators about their sexuality and health. Since the main problem seems to be lack of information, this paper will mainly adopts two IEC models. These are: the communication behaviour change model and the community mobilization model. Several existing programmes were looked at and interventions like radio, IEC distribution where found to be efficient when targeting men. In order to target young men it is recommended that various interventions should be used for instance mass media, community out reach programs, sex education interventions for not in and out of school young men, clubs, toll free help lines, advocacy interventions, IEC interventions and social marketing strategies. Most importantly there is need for more research to be conducted in this area especially in the African context.
Authors:
Kagwa, S.N.
Country:
Uganda
Category:
Research
Department:
Development Policy & Practice
Institute:
KIT (Royal Tropical Institute)
Keywords:
reproductive health
,
health services
,
disease prevention and control
,
HIV and AIDS
,
communication
,
communities
Language:
eng
Organization:
KIT - Royal Tropical Institute
PAGE:
v, 45
Year:
2008
Region:
East Africa
Right:
© 2008 Kagwa
Subject:
Health and Nutrition
Title:
Sexual health needs and concerns of young men in Uganda
Training:
Master of Public Health / International Course in Health Development (ICHD)