Male RH

As long as male reproductive health care is synonymous with just STD screening rather than comprehensive clinical services, it should come as no surprise that men shirk responsibility both in preventing pregnancy and in embracing fatherhood.

Many men are perfectly competent at swallowing a pill every day on time, and plenty of them have partners who trust them to do it. So where's the male birth control pill?

Follow Amanda Marcotte on Twitter, @amandamarcotte

If ever there was a perfect time for men to band together against a loss of fatherhood, that time is now -- with their demand for access to emergency contraception. Those who feel that they have been hurt by abortion have more reason than anyone else to spread knowledge of Plan B and support its widespread provision to men.

A birth control pill for men, along with other forms of male contraception, are in development. But will men use these methods? And will male contraception mean the responsibility for birth control is equally shared?

Rupert Walder wonders whether male involvement in reproductive health is the best message, when there's not even enough funding for women's reproductive health around the globe.

Clearly, men have unique sexual and reproductive health needs, but their needs are more often than not sidelined in reproductive health service provision. Men's limited participation in reproductive health affects not only the health of men themselves, but also their female partners, children and the general society.

We need to expand the discussion about how to improve men's sexual and reproductive health beyond the reproductive health community and connect with unlikely allies.

In honor of World Population Day, the Population Institute, UNFPA and the Communications Consortium Media Center sponsored a panel discussion on "Men as Partners in Maternal Health: Supporting Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies."

Three challenges are at the heart of the men and abortion matter. First, what does it mean to be a man? Second, what does it mean to be a sexually active man? And third, what does it mean to accompany your sex partner or any female who asks to an abortion clinic?

In defense of the foreskin: One writer argues that using circumcision to combat AIDS gives prevention the shaft.