Factors Affecting NSV acceptance

• Baseless myths and misconceptions on NSV.here below are a few of the myths debunked:
  

1. "it is not in our culture" Most of the time people use culture as a euphemism for ignorance on NSV.
2. "it will affect the manhood." NSV doesn't affect the production of testosterone,the virility hormone.
3. "NSV involves chopping off the external genital".this is not true,we only ligate the vas differens
4. "the scrotum will balloon and explode".this is not true,the sperms are reabsorbed same way the eggs of a woman are reabsorbed if not fertilised.
5. "Family Planning is only for women" This is a retrogressive,discriminative and misogynic attitude that all responsible citizens should desist from.Male chauvinistic attitudes perpetuate social injustice against women on this critical but important segment of the economy,Family Planning.It is fallacious to call it "Family" planning if only the woman  is overburdened by it.we end up creating a very unjust society with many street children and single mothers.As a country we should emulate other countries like the U.K. where the numbers of vasectomies are same as Tubal ligation,In New Zea land vasectomies are more than Tubal ligation.No wonder they are more secure with high per ca pita incomes.there are women who give birth as a hobby,cuddling a baby in their arms gives them pleasure,the absence of one particularly when they grow old casts a spell of emptiness and the void has to be filled quickly by giving birth to another,in such scenarios if the husband is not empowered to access NSV then they might end up with children enough to form a football team!there are men too who have no identity other than reproductive prowess,they have no career nor hobby,they are recalcitrant to Family planning and some times become vicious when confronted with "Vasectomy" as a topic for discussion.
6. "my children will die". we need to focus on quality not quantity.It is very difficult to give sufficient food and medical care to many people in the family.the fewer they are the easier it is to manage! Margaret Sanger,founder of International Planned Parenthood (IPPF) once said "the most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it".
7. "My wife will divorce me or die" Research has shown that only 5% of vasectomy clients regret the decision later on in life and most of the time they do so because they have done so well in life and would like to add a child.
8. "some one else will make my wife pregnant".Vasectomy is not about immorality but a Family planning method! vasectomy empowers a man to query the paternity of a baby in-utero rather than nurture children whose paternity you are ignorant about,the cost of DNA is also prohibitive.According to the guttmacher institute 45% of the children do not genetically belong to their "fathers".
9. "Vasectomy will emasculate men".This is not true,what emasculates a man is a large unplanned family,it weakens and frustrates him particularly if he cannot feed them well.On the other hand a well timed vasectomy ensures a small manageable family.it gives the man strength and pride.In Africa it is only the Rwandan Government which has invested heavily in the popularization of vasectomy as a safe FP method under the visionary leadership of their president,Mr Paul Kagame.The country has realized the dangers of rapid population growth.This programme has achieved remarkable success despite stiff opposition.Our Kenyan leadership is yet to think on this line,they still consider the citizens as mere votes and urges them to continue giving birth so that they can defeat opponents in the ballot box,they give little consideration to the quality of life the people lead.
10. "Vasectomy is for the educated and rich members of the society".This is not true,NSV is for any body whose family is complete and has no desire to have more children.Read through the Testimonials,We have rendered the service to Bicycle Taxi operators(boda boda),Pharmacists,Bouncers,carpenters,politicians,name it.
11. "some think it is not biblical".Isaiah 56:3-5 says even eunuchs will be accepted in the kingdom of God if they follow the path of righteousness and will be rewarded with greater gifts than children.Though NSV does not make one a eunuch.Iran,an ardent Islam theocracy embraced vasectomy in the 1980's,when asked about his opinion about vasectomy, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei,the supreme spiritual leader said:" if wisdom dictates that a man has enough number of children and doesn't need anymore then Vasectomy is permissible".now Iran is doing thousands of vasectomies each year,My friend Hamid Farrok, an Iranian NSV surgeon can attest to this.In Iran a couple can not get a marriage License before going through a course in Family Planning!
12. "others say it is a castration or Royo".NSV will not affect your legendary bull like sexuality,it will not alter the seminal fluid volume too.Only the 5% of the semen which contains sperms will be inhibited.

• Few qualified Non Scalpel Vasectomy (NSV) service providers. They are less than 5% of the health care force.
• health facilities that can render the service,not readily accessible

• Doctors are not taught this technique in medical schools.There is more emphasis on Tubal ligation for women.This is the flip side of the "male medicine" that has been taught over the years.one wonders why we Doctors have to frantically look for Fallopian tubes from a woman's abdomen some times accidentally causing injuries to essential organs e.g the gut and the bladder yet we could still achieve same objective of sterilization by just locating the vas differens  below the skin.it is more cost-effective,you require few personnel,no general anesthesia needed and Fewer supplies are required.Households and the Government can therefore save money on health expenditure.

• poor understanding of the male reproductive system
• Vasectomy is a hanging field:Gynecologist say they only do Family planning for women so try a urologist.urologists say we only touch the scrotum when it is sick but not for Family planning so try a gynecologist!

• use of pregnancy as a weapon to "tame" the woman.we should not turn them into Birth Machines but should play their active role in building the country's economy." I cannot refrain from saying that women must come to recognize there is some function of womanhood other than being a child bearing machine" Margaret Sanger.

• Poor knowledge of NSV at the FP clinics.
• Family Planning was introduced in Kenya in the 1960's as a woman's issue.This perception has persisted to date.The question is;why should you overburden her body with hormones when the family is complete.would you be saving some money by avoiding the methods?

• young couples do not discuss family size ab initio.it is difficult to plan if there is no mutual agreement.

• Lack of commitment by staffs to encourage NSV

• Poor funding.Most of the funding target HIV/AIDS.Conflict from competition for scarce resources due to population pressure can be more fatal than HIV/AIDS.
• Stigma: only 50% 0f Vasectomy clients are wiling to go public.
• there is no data in our health facilities of cases done so far.I hear stories of frustration from Men who would like to participate in FP through vasectomy from Responsible men like Thomas machio who hails from Busia county,western border of the country who went from hospital to hospital including the two referral hospitals in search of a vasectomy with no success till he landed into hands and he got the much needed assistance.