Description:
Family planning was introduced in 1959 in Tanzania under the family planning association of
Tanzania (UMATI), it is 46 years of family planning programs since it was introduced and
implemented in Tanzania. Efforts have been made to influence men to participate in family
planning issues but still studies shows there is low participation in family planning programs
among men in Tanzania.The aim of this study was to assess barriers of married men
participation in family planning programs in Butimba ward. The study was a case study
research design which involved the sample size of 95 married households of men and women
aged between 18 to 45 years of age residing in Butimba ward. Multistage sampling technique
was employed in selection of household, rotary method was used to select streets whereby 5
streets were selected out of 9 streets in Butimba ward and households were selected using
systematic random sampling. Questionnaire and interview data collection techniques were
employed whereby findings shows among of the barriers which hinder married men to
participate in family planning was lack of time and the nature of services provided hinder men
to participate since majority of the respondents mentioned programs targeted to women only.
Also findings shows majority of the respondents are aware of family planning programs
conducted this is because of couples communication on family planning issues. Based on
findings the following recommendations were made: the government and other non governmental organization should ensure accessibility of family planning information in rural
to urban areas, also should ensure family planning services are available and accessible
through increasing number of health facilities in each village or street, time consideration to
conduct family planning programs because most of time men works for daily bread gain, of
religious readers and local reader to influence people to participate in family planning
programs.