‘We are not ready for vasectomy’
A number of men in the Central Region are yet to change their negative perception about vasectomy as an effective family planning method in spite of the numerous education programmes on it in the region.
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In a 2009 report published in The Mirror based on random interviews in Cape Coast and Elmina, the men
insisted that vasectomy was not a popular choice for them and they would, therefore, not patronise it.
Eight years down the lane and with several education programmes carried out on the family planning method, they seem not to have changed their minds. They have rather reiterated that they are not ready for vasectomy.
What is more; their women agree with them fully. While the men believe it bordered on their ego and persons, the women say they would just not want them to risk it.
Vasectomy is generally considered by health experts to be as effective as female sterilisation and is simple to perform, safer and less costly.
It is done by blocking the tube through which sperms pass from each testicle on the way to the seminal vesicle to form semen.
The surgery usually takes not more than 30 minutes, after which the man can safely go home .Health experts say the procedure does not have any effect on the man’s sexual activity.
In interviews conducted by The Mirror randomly, not even one man said he would opt for vasectomy as a family planning method.
Interesting responses
“Madam, you don’t need to play with death. This thing is like playing with death,” one stated.
‘’The issue is a bit dicey Madam. You don’t know what will happen so you have to be careful. I won’t do it anyway,” another stated.
Ben Arhin said he would not do it. “Maybe after I’m 50 years and my wife is still fertile I may decide. But it is not something to joke with.
“I will never be the same. And it’s forever.” It’s serious. I think it’s too foreign for us.”
Responses from women
Some of the women said they were not ready to have impotent husbands and men by their side.
“We don’t need dead men. We want them alive. Alive and strong,” Maame Adwoa said.
And so the statistics show that very few men have opted for vasectomy in the region.
Reports from the Ghana Health Service, gathered by The Mirror, indicated that there had been no vasectomy in the region in the last three years.
The responses were not surprising at all.
Indeed, the Central Regional Technical Working Group on Family Planning was itself divided over the use of the method.
At its last meeting, while some members said it must be promoted with a lot of tact, others said culturally the method was flawed while yet others said a lot more education was needed to promote the method among men.
It may be cultural because it is known that vasectomy is the most common urological procedure in the United States with 18 per cent of men having a vasectomy before age 45, according to a United States National Library of Medicine website.
According to the site, over 500,000 vasectomies are done annually in the USA.
The fear
Many of the men who expressed concern were worried because of the perceived irreversibility of the procedure.
But it is not wholly true. In the US, health facilities undertake vasectomy reversal procedures for $3,000 .
Kofi Gyan said: “I don’t even have what to eat let alone 3,000 dollars to reverse it. Thank you. I will use the condom like that.”
Health officials in the region say they would continue to press on, saying it was one of the efficient family planning methods so far.
