At the International Women’s Day Global Health Symposium, we will be tasked with thinking about how to use the latest technologies, research, and tools to improve the lives of women and children. As a spouse to a female partner, a father to a daughter, and, more importantly, as a citizen who sees the crucial benefits of equality for women and girls, I’m thrilled to be a part of it.

As the co-founder of an organization that works to get men and boys involved in gender equality, Promundo , I have a unique perspective. I see the restrictions put on women’s health, on their access to high-quality, low-cost health care, and the results, including persistent rates of maternal mortality around the world. But what I also see is that if we want to improve global health – and particularly maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes - we need men to be invested as well. 

Why? When fathers are involved early on, it can have positive impacts on their partners’ use of services and on their mental health. If they’re involved early, they’re also more likely to be involved in their children’s lives for the long run, providing lifelong benefits to their health and development.

Fatherhood is a pivotal movement in the lives of many men. We know from our International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) research that fathers can play a powerful role in ending cycles of violence, promoting cycles of caregiving, and in supporting their partners’ and children’s health and well-being. 

There’s some good news when it comes to getting men on board:

• Availability isn’t an issue. About 80 percent of men around the world will be fathers at some point in their lives, and many men have some connection to children as brothers, uncles, grandfathers, friends, coaches, teachers, or other ways.
• Interest isn’t an issue either. About 60-80 percent of men around the world are already attending at least one pre-natal visit with their partner, according to IMAGES.
• And new fathers are open. As men prepare to become fathers, they are often more willing to question their own attitudes and behaviors and adopt new ones; it’s a moment when men reflect on their experiences as children and their hopes and aspirations as fathers. 

At Promundo, we’ve decided to use this tremendous entry point – the health system – as the foundation of our work with fathers via a global campaign called MenCare. Active in over 40 countries and co-coordinated with Sonke Gender Justice, we work with partners to provide hands-on training for new fathers and couples, and to health professionals, promoting better health and development outcomes. We also provide positive messaging and images through media campaigns and support national- and international-level advocacy.

Through the campaign, Promundo’s programs have empowered more than 50,000 fathers across 10 countries to become better parents, breaking family legacies of violence. Program P, a toolkit for reaching expectant fathers as partners in maternal and child health and violence prevention, has been implemented in more than 10 countries and officially adopted by health ministries in five countries. 

By promoting men’s caregiving and active fatherhood, we’re encouraging more equal gender roles, contributing to the prevention of violence against women and children and to positive maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes. 

In Central America and Rwanda, specifically, we’ve seen promising results from our programming. Through the health sector, men are engaging in their partners’ pregnancies and continuing through their children’s early years. For example, in Nicaragua, program participants stated that, as a result of the program, they learned how to participate in and share household duties; dedicate more time to their children and wives; and teach their children values of respect and equality. 

In Rwanda, a randomized controlled trial of Program P found that men in the intervention group were less likely to use violence against their partners, more likely to use family planning and accompany their partners to ante-natal visits, more likely to share childcare and household tasks, and more likely to hold more equitable gender attitudes.

The work continues, but we know that we’ve found a powerful way to ensure that maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes are all of our responsibility.