A veteran community health worker is strongly urging men to take the lead in family planning.
CHW Paul Konare, who works in remote Rai Coast area in Madang, said previously men were not involved in family planning until recently when the Department of Health realized that they should be part and partial of all family planning activities because they play an important role as heads of their families.
He said that women particularly mothers go through a lot of hardships as child bearers and urged that husbands must also volunteer to turn themselves in for operations to help space children or control births.
Konare serves Ganglau aid post which is one of the busiest rural health facilty in that part of Rai Coast following in the Basamuk area since mining development .
He is also urging non- government organizations in the province such as Marie Stoppes International, the Rotary Club and others to work in collaboration with the Health Department in delivering family planning services and conduct more awareness to people, particularly men in rural areas.
Konare praised the work of Maries Stoppes International in Madang who had been working closely with several communities in Madang.
Picture: Konare attending to a child brought along by his father at Mingming village in Rai Coast, Madang. Picture by James G. Kila