On a current night in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, an imam named Ibrahima Diane defined to a gaggle of males why they must be extra concerned in family chores.
“The prophet himself says {that a} man who doesn’t assist to help his spouse and kids is just not an excellent Muslim,” stated the 53-year-old, as he described bathing his child and aiding his spouse with different duties.
A number of the males chuckled, not totally satisfied, whereas others applauded.
Diane was collaborating in a “college for husbands”, a United Nations-backed initiative wherein revered male neighborhood members study “optimistic masculinity” in relation to well being and social points, and promote these ideas inside their communities.
In Senegal, as in lots of different West African nations with giant rural or conservative populations, males usually have the ultimate say in main family selections, together with these associated to well being.
Ladies could require their husbands’ permission for life-changing selections, reminiscent of accessing household planning or different reproductive well being providers, in addition to hospital deliveries or prenatal care.
After attending the college for husbands, Diane usually delivers sermons throughout Friday prayers, wherein he discusses points round gender and reproductive well being, from gender-based violence to combating stigma surrounding HIV.
“Many ladies recognize my sermons,” he stated. “They are saying their husbands’ behaviour has modified since attending them.” He added that some males have instructed him the sermons impressed them to grow to be extra caring husbands and fathers.
The programme was launched in Senegal in 2011, however lately has attracted the eye of the Ministry of Ladies, Household, Gender and Youngster Safety, which regards it as an efficient technique for combatting maternal and toddler mortality.
“With out males’s involvement, attitudes in the direction of maternal well being is not going to change,” stated Aida Diouf, a 54-year-old feminine well being employee who collaborates with the programme. Many husbands want their wives to not be handled by male well being staff, she defined.
Discussions for males have additionally targeted on women’ rights, equality, and the dangerous results of feminine genital mutilation.
The programme now operates no less than 20 colleges all through Senegal, and greater than 300 males have been educated.
In some communities, males who as soon as enforced patriarchal norms now promote gender equality, a shift which has led to a discount within the variety of pressured marriages and higher acceptance of household planning, in keeping with Senegal’s Ministry of Gender.
Males be part of the teams after being recruited primarily based on belief, management and dedication. Candidates have to be married, revered domestically, and supportive of girls’s well being and rights.
After coaching, the lads function peer educators, visiting houses and internet hosting casual discussions.
Though maternal and toddler deaths in Senegal have declined over the previous decade, specialists say there’s nonetheless a lot progress to be made. The nation recorded 237 maternal deaths per 100,000 reside births in 2023, and 21 newborns out of each 1,000 died inside their first month. The UN’s international goal is to cut back maternal deaths to 70 per 100,000 reside births and new child deaths to beneath 12 per 1,000 by 2030.
A key drawback is that many ladies have continued to provide delivery at dwelling, stated El Hadj Malick, one of many programme’s coordinators.
“By educating males concerning the significance of supporting their wives throughout being pregnant, taking them to hospital and serving to with home work from home, you might be defending individuals’s well being,” Malick stated.
He famous that he nonetheless encounters issue in altering attitudes on some points.
“However after we give attention to girls’s proper to be wholesome, it provides a human face to the idea and it turns into common,” Malick stated.