About 21, 000 men drawn from over 50 countries of the world are billed to undergo vasectomies to mark this year’s World Vasectomy Day (WVD).
This year’s WVD would be marked Wednesday, November 14, and Friday, November 16, 2018, according to organizers. Traditionally, WVD is marked on a Friday, but because it coincides with the ICFP 2018, November 14 is chosen to draw attention to the day.
Several activities are lined up for the day. A black flyer with images of sperm cells all over it announces the day in style. And the message on it says: “Celebrate World Vasectomy Day. Be part of the largest male-oriented family planning movement in history.”
Speaking to The Next Edition at the Kigali Convention Centre, venue of the 2018 International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP), Mr. Jonathan Stack, Founder World Vasectomy Day, disclosed that the vasectomies would be performed by 1, 200 doctors simultaneously in commemoration of WVD.
“Within the next three days in over 50 countries, about 1,200 doctors would do upward of 21,000 vasectomies,” Mr. Stack said with a coy smile.
Giving a breakdown of the figures, he said “In Mexico alone, doctors are expected to do 10,000 vasectomies. In India, 6,000, and in Bangladesh over 4,000 are scheduled to undergo the procedure.”
Although several countries have perfected strategies on how to get men involved in family planning as an act of love, the practice is alien to Nigeria. Explaining why Nigeria remains a work in progress, Mr. Stack said there have efforts to engage the Nigerian public.
What is needed
“Talking about it and getting the conversations going and that is why we have to start the conversation. Nigeria is an agent of change of the continent so we can figure out how to bring our message and work with Nigerian doctors, Ministry of Health, and NGOs. We can really do something.
Major Issues in involving men in family planning
There are issues in so many countries of the world on how to bring men on board the new movement of men supporting women to achieve family planning goals. But Stack said there would always be a way to get them involved.
He said “People always tell me ‘in my country, the men won’t get a vasectomy’ and I always tell them we are not trying to get all the men, we are just only trying to find 1% of men, the first one thousand men.
“In every country, there are a thousand men who wake up every day with one single intention to figure out how to offer their children a better life than they have. They sacrifice, they work hard, they do anything and they know for them to be able to offer their children this quality of life they want to offer them, they can’t have five or six kids, it’s too expensive. They may want five children because they love them but they can’t have that number because they want their children’s lives to be better. So, this is what brought about vasectomy,” the Founder said.
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Are men excited about the procedure?
According to him, “men are excited about vasectomy because it solves their biggest problem, which is how to have a family they can provide for.”
The new thinking in family planning
“Men generally everywhere in the world have almost thought family planning was a women’s issue. But I think we live in a new time in history where we have to work with men and women together to raise our children,” Stack said adding “The nature of the modern economy makes it very hard to say ‘oh, women just make babies and men make money.’ We got to do this together.”
How to involve men
“The first thing is to start talking. Don’t assume men are uninterested. The way I would work in Nigeria is to start looking for men who are already thinking about how they can participate.
Plans to reach Nigeria
There have been efforts to get this message across especially in Nigeria, the most populous black nation. Stack revealed to The Next Edition that efforts are in top gear to set the ball rolling. “I would love to work in Nigeria and I know we will,” he said with an air of finality.
Continuing he said, “We have quite a few doctors who are interested. We are going to work with DKT Nigeria. It is one of the sponsors of WVD and they have a country office in Nigeria. And we are talking about how we can hold the programme together- slowly we can get the conversations started.”
World Vasectomy Day
It is a way to include men in the conversation about family planning. It is an act of love. It is also a celebration of men around the world who are stepping up for their partners, families and their future. It’s a world-wide movement about starting the conversations, helping men and their families become more informed about their choices. To make family planning a success, men also need to step forward for the sake of their families because it’s not a women’s issue, it’s a development issue, according to the Prime Minister of Rwanda in his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the ICFP 2018.
What is Vasectomy?
“Vasectomy is a surgical procedure for male sterilization or permanent contraception. During the procedure, the male vas deferens are cut and tied or sealed so as to prevent sperm from entering into the urethra and thereby prevent fertilization of a female through sexual intercourse,” Wikipedia says. There’s also no-scalpel vasectomy.
