Last Thursday, Michael Mapongwana health care facility officially launched the men’s clinic in partnership with Anova and other stakeholders.
The clinic, in Harare, has a dedicated male nurse and will be open twice a month, on some Thursdays from 4pm until 6pm.
Facility manager, Khanyisa Jacobs, said that for years they had noticed that men would only come to the clinic when they are very sick.
Ms Jacobs said some of the reasons why men are unwilling to attend clinics is that it is staffed mostly by women. She said most of our clinics are full with women who know that at certain ages they needed to check for breast cancer and have pap smears but when it came to men, it was a different story.
She said the men’s clinic is small but in time they would expand it to be open daily and offer full services.
Anova health programme manager, Dr Qondisa Qina, said the aim was to see a health improvement in the whole city and if men don’t seek medical help, that cannot happen.
Dr Qina said the clinic was breaking barriers by minimising some of the reasons that discourage men from coming to clinics. She said TB is still the leading cause of death among men even though it is curable and it is critical that they educate men and ensure that they are tested and treated.
“If you take care of a man, you are taking care of the head of a family and you are also taking care of the community at large,” she said.
She said men are still leading in terms of having non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension and diabetes, and that the stats may well be higher because men are not going to the clinics and are therefore undiagnosed.
“Social and cultural norms are good but sometimes they are bad as they teach our men to be strong and manly and that you should not show your weaknesses and fears. In my culture there is a saying that a man does not cry. These are some of the factors that negatively contribute to men not visiting health care facilities.
“As a community, we have a responsibility to support men in a way that allows them to access our facilities. Men do not like waiting in long queues and there are no facilities where we do not have long queues, so we found that men prefer to come after hours. Men also prefer to talk to other men about their health. I believe that one of the key pillars in improving health is to provide equity which is equal to breaking down barriers,” she said.
Ward councillor Anele Gabuza applauded the initiative and said that men now have a safe space to pour out their hearts and get medical attention. He said men are people that do not want to be seen as weak and always want to be seen strong and healthy.
