Strengthening Service Provision

WINGS for Men conducts trainings for health service providers on how to provide quality attention and health care for men. A large barrier for Guatemalan men in seeking appropriate health care is the discomfort they feel at community health centers; a place often regarded as only for women and children. The barrier is greater when men are seeking sexual and reproductive healthcare.  
In 2009, WINGS for Mern contracted a consultant from EngenderHealth Honduras who had conducted similar trainings for Health Service Providers there. This consultant used the EngenderHealth curriculum “Reproductive Health Services for Men” and trained 81 Health Service Providers from Chimaltenango and Escuintla on the following topics:

  • Understanding the needs and roles of men in health care;
  • Male health care rights;
  • Ways to involve men in SRH;
  • Creating a safe and comfortable environment for men in the health centers;
  • Giving counsel to men and types of communication skills;
  • Key topics and FAQs in SRH for men: FP, STIs, anatomy, infertility, personal hygiene, sexual dysfunction;
  • Confronting one’s own biases and prejudices;
  • Trans-theoretical model of behavior change; and
  • Characteristics of an effective health provider.

IN 2010, WINGS for Men contracted the same consultant to return and do a follow-up training with the same providers as well as mobile unit staff APROFAM. The follow-up trainings emphasized the importance of implementing male-friendly protocols, conducting self-evaluations of their clinical services for men, and writing action plans to implement these ideas.

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