|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 28, 2000
USAID Working Group and Johns Hopkins Center for Communication
Programs Releases "HIM" (Helping Involve Men) CD-ROM
Involving Men in Reproductive Health
Reproductive health for women and men cannot be achieved without the constructive involvement of men. To help men share responsibility for reproductive health with women, those charged with developing policies and programs, particularly in developing countries, need access to information on men's knowledge, attitudes, health needs, and what has been done elsewhere to reach men. The Men and Reproductive Health Committee of the Interagency Gender Working Group, supported by USAID's Office of Population, commissioned the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs to produce a new tool: a CD-ROM providing a treasure trove of information on men and reproductive health. The CD is being published this week by the POPLINE Division of JHU/CCP's Population Information Program.
The new Helping Involve Men (HIM) CD-ROM brings together for the first time hundreds of documents from around the world about men's participation in reproductive health. The CD-ROM contains 497 documents totaling over 11,000 pages. Designed mainly for use by policy makers and program planners in developing countries, the CD provides easy access to an "essential library" of important research and programmatic findings and guidance. The Men and Reproductive Health subcommittee recommended the documents for the new CD.
Documents on the CD are organized to address major aspects of men's involvement in reproductive health. Categories include: Gender, Couples, Men & Reproductive Health, IEC & Men, Institutional Influences, and Future Research. Each category lists topic questions or statements to make it easy for the browser to seek out relevant documents. For example: What do we know about men's knowledge and opinion of family planning? Adolescent males: What special attention do they need? What influence do men have on women's health? Communication to involve men in reproductive health. What institutional obstacles prevent men from participating in healthy reproductive lives?
Also, the CD-ROM features a resources section that lists materials, organizations, LISTSERVs, and web addresses for follow-up information. For example, the section on future research includes articles about operations research, research gaps, indicators of men's participation, less-than-successful men's participation projects, lessons learned, and recommendations from conferences and literature reviews.
JHU/CCP will distribute the CD at no cost to people in developing countries.
For more information, contact Rick Glasby, CD-ROM manager, POPLINE, Center for Communication Programs, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA. (FAX: 410 659-6266, E-MAIL: popline@jhuccp.org; Internet site: http://www.jhuccp.org)
|
© 2005 The Johns Hopkins University. All rights reserved.