19 November - International Men's Day: No Special Program for Protection of Men's Reproductive Health
'Let's work together for men and boys' is the motto of this year's International Men's Day.
The International Men's Day is a chance to point to the issue of men's and boys' health, promotion of gender relations and equality and invite men to get involved in promotion of gender equality. Without a partnership-based approach to building of an equal opportunities world women cannot achieve equality.
Therefore, the Provincial Protector of Citizens - Ombudsman (PPCO) points to the necessity to promote adoption of a program focusing on preventive men's health preservation activities, as well as the reproductive health of both women and men. Creating a partnership between men and women is necessary for improvement of everyone's health. As decision-makers, men and women can improve the current situation significantly by planning for (more) funds and more positive measures in all fields related to women's and men's health when planning a healthcare budget, including a better preventive care by means of providing for timely checkups, better material conditions and contemporary treatment methods.
On this occasion, PPCO draws public attention to the fact that there is no special men's reproductive health advancement program, either nationally in Serbia or in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (APV). Some forms of care are available within the existing healthcare system, like family planning, counseling centers and sterility treatment. The secondary and tertiary level expert healthcare services are in charge of prevention and treatment of diseases of men's reproductive organs. These services are a part of general hospitals in which there is a total of 93 urology specialists. The most common diseases of men's reproductive organs are hyperplasia (enlargement) of the prostate and sexually transmitted diseases.
It is good that there are still some projects on youth education on reproductive health, along with social marketing interventions aimed at education of population on reproductive and sexual health promotion and with a distinct gender component. Some of them are the Sports and Youth Provincial Secretariat pilot project on reproductive health education focusing on male reproductive health protection and promotion, the Healthcare Management Authority of the Town of Novi Sad projects on health education and monitoring one's own HPV profile aimed at university students, as well as the 2014-2015 school year project of extracurricular education on reproductive health in 66 high schools in 33 municipalities of APV also funded by the Sports and Youth Provincial Secretariat.
The International Men's Day was first celebrated in Trinidad and Tobago in 1999. Since then, many UN states, as well as the Organization itself, have been celebrating it in order to focus on men's and boys' health, improvement of gender relations and promotion of gender equality by highlighting positive male examples. This day is also a chance to point to the discrimination of men and boys and their contribution to the community, family, marriage and childcare.