Solutions Panorama

places with low rates of prenatal consultation. After identifying the problem, the
husbands devise strategies to get more pregnant and breastfeeding women to attend
Integrated Health Centres, thereby improving the health of their families and the
uptake of health services.
The schools have led to positive spin-off initiatives, some of which emphasize the
close link between sanitation and health. For example communities are implementing
new hygiene measures in line with women’s concerns. Husbands built latrines in the
health centers to enhance women’s comfort and privacy. They have also constructed
a midwives’ residence, an observation room for women in labor, and a prenatal
consultation room.
Use of family
planning
services has
tripled in
communities
where the
schools operate.
IMPACT
Results of the schools include:
• Use of family planning services has tripled in
communities where the schools operate.
• During the first nine months of 2013 in Maiki,
approximately 1,700 women received prenatal
consultations at the health center, a 95 percent
increase from 2012.
• The number of childbirths attended by skilled
healthcare personnel has doubled in communities
where the schools operate.
• An increase in rates of safe delivery, from
approximately 12 percent to nearly 30 percent in
one community and from 16 percent to over 32
percent in another between 2008 and 2009.
• The rate of antenatal visits at the Bandé health
center rose from approximately 28 percent in 2006
to 87 percent in 2010.
The Husband Schools primarily influence behavior
within individual couples. Husbands and wives say
that they are now talking to each other more. Men
better understand the importance of the health
of their wives and children. Member husbands are
acting as guides for their own families and for other
families that find it hard to get to a health center.
There has also been a change in behavior among
villagers, authorities, and healthcare workers. Health
centers that achieve the best results are those where
healthcare workers have good relations with local
people and the Husband Schools in particular.
LEARN MORE
Husband Schools in Rural Niger;
unfpa.org
More on Husband Schools in Niger;
niger.unfpa.org
Husband Schools to Improve the Health of Families;
unfpa.org
Source: Meet the Demand for Modern Contraception and Reproductive Health policy brief
WOMEN DELIVER 2016 CONFERENCE: SOLUTIONS PANORAMA 28