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Different groups of men face divergent health needs and challenges, and many programs around the world have focused on some of the specific groups. The resources in this section are divided into three sections: 1) young men and socialization, 2) men at work and in uniform, and 3) men who have sex with men.

Young Men and Socialization

The socialization of boys and men into masculinities that can negatively affect their health and that of their partners has increasingly drawn the focus of the reproductive health field. Men's roles as students, workers, spouses, fathers, and so on, have varying implications for their health and that of those around them. The new appreciation of masculine socialization and its effects on health and well being has led to the development of very interesting work with young men.

Please note: Some of the following links lead to PDF or PowerPoint documents that may take a little while to load. If no helper program is available, they will download automatically to your hard drive.

Program Examples:

• Alan Guttmacher Institute. Man2Man: A Promising Approach to Addressing the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Young Men (September/October 2003).
• CEDPA. The Better Life Options Program for Adolescent Boys in India (January 2002).
• FHI, YouthNet. Boys and Changing Gender Roles: Emerging Program Approaches (August 2005).
• FHI, YouthNet. Reaching Out-of-School Youth With Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS Information and Services (2004).
• PAHO. Addressing Gender Issues Through Soccer (2005).
• Panos Institute and UNAIDS. Young Men and HIV: Culture, Poverty and Sexual Risk (2001).
• Population Council. Engaging Adolescent Boys and Young Men in Promoting Sexual and Reproductive Health: Lessons, Research, and Programmatic Challenges (March 2003)
• Population Council. My Father Didn’t Think This Way, Nigerian Boys Contemplate Gender Equality (2003).
• Safe Passages to Adulthood. Working With Young Men to Promote Sexual and Reproductive Health (2002).
• United Nations. Addressing the Sexual Culture of Heterosexual Men: Key Strategies in Involving Men and Boys in HIV/AIDS Prevention (October 2003).
• United Nations. Fatherhood in Adolescence: The Construction of Political Agenda.
• The Urban Institute. Young Men’s Sexual and Reproductive Health: Toward A National Strategy (December 2000).
• Verma, R. et al. “Promoting Gender Equity Among Young Men: Positive Experiences of the Yari-Dosti Project in India,” in Sexual Health Exchange 2: 5–6 (2005).
• World Bank. Young Men and the Construction of Masculinity in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for HIV/AIDS, Conflict and Violence (2005).
• World Health Organizations (WHO). Boys in the Picture (accessed online on June 15, 2006).
• WHO. Working With Adolescent Boys: Programme Experiences (2000).

Men at Work and in Uniform

Work settings provide important opportunities to reach men with information and services. Men’s identities as workers can also contribute to specific risks. Military training and sports play important roles in socializing boys and men by, among other things, suppressing individuality and personality, promoting a dominance-oriented idea of masculinity, encouraging aggression, and distorting the importance of competition. Thus, working with men of the police and military in promoting awareness and skills-building can be especially fruitful.

Overview of Issues:

• UN and the ILO, for the Expert Group Meeting on the Role of Men and Boys in Achieving Gender Equality. The Role of Men and Boys in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS in the World of Work (October 2003).

Program Examples:

Men in the Military

• UNFPA. Enlisting the Armed Forces to Protect Reproductive Health and Rights: Lessons Learned From Nine Countries (August 2003).

Men in Agrarian Settings

• Population Council, Institute for Reproductive Health at Georgetown University, the Research Institute for Mindanao Culture at Xavier University, and KAANIB Foundation. Enhancing NGO-LGU Collaboration in Family Planning: Using Community Workers to Reach Men in an Agrarian Setting (December 2001).

Men at the Office

• EngenderHealth and the International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR). Five Case Studies for the Symposium on Male Participation in Sexual and Reproductive Health: New Paradigms (Oaxaca, Mexico; October 1998).

Truck Drivers

• Population Council. Men as Supportive Partners in Reproductive Health. Moving from Rhetoric to Reality (2004).

Miners and Other Migrant Workers

• Population Council. Expanding Workplace HIV/AIDS Prevention Programs for a Highly Mobile Population in Ho Chi Minh City (November 2003).
• Population Council. Reducing the Transmission of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections in a Mining Community: Findings From the Carletonville Mothusimpilo Intervention Project: 1998 to 2001 (September 2005).
• Population Council. A Targeted Intervention Falls Short: Study in South African Mining Community Highlights Importance of Understanding Sexual Networks (December 2005).

Men Who Have Sex with Men

Program Examples:

• Futures Group, POLICY Project. Men Who Have Sex with Men in Cambodia: HIV/AIDS Vulnerability, Stigma, and Discrimination (January 2004).
• International HIV/AIDS Alliance. Between Men—HIV/STI Prevention for Men Who Have Sex With Men (January 2003).
• Naz Foundation (India) Trust Offered Through AIDS Alliance. An Introduction to Promoting Sexual Health for Men Who Have Sex with Men and Gay Men—A Training Manual (2001).
• Population Council. Meeting the Sexual Health Needs of Men Who Have Sex With Men in Senegal (November 2001).
• Population Council. Understanding the HIV/STI Risks and Prevention Needs of Men Who Have Sex With Men in Nairobi, Kenya (September 2005).
• Safe Passages to Adulthood. HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care among Especially Vulnerable Young People: A Framework for Action (April 2004).
• UNAIDS. AIDS and Men Who Have Sex With Men (July 1998).

Programmatic Tools:

• Alan Guttmacher Institute. Man2Man: A Promising Approach to Addressing the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Young Men (September/October 2003).
• CEDPA. The Better Life Options Program for Adolescent Boys in India (January 2002).
• IGWG. Conference on Reaching Men to Improve Reproductive Health for All (September 2003)
• Naz Foundation International. Actions for Life: Looking at Developing Sexual Health Services for Males Who Have Sex With Males (February 1999).
• Naz Foundation International. Developing Community-Based Organisations Addressing HIV, Sexual Health, Welfare and Human Rights Issues for Males Who Have Sex With Males, Their Partners and Families (2005).
• Naz Foundation International. Male Sexual Behaviors and STD/HIV Prevention: A Training Manual for Peer Educators (1998).
• Community Mobilizing
• Developing Community-Based Sexual Health Services for Males Who Have Sex With Males in South Asia
• MSM and Rights-Based Approach
• Sahayog. Working with Men on Gender, Sexuality, Violence and Health: Trainers’ Manual (April 2005).
• The Urban Institute. Young Men’s Sexual and Reproductive Health: Toward a National Strategy (December 2000).

Research and Evaluation:

• Alan Guttmacher Institute. In Their Own Right: Addressing the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of American Men (2002)
• Family Health International. Sexual Behaviors, STIs and HIV Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (2000).
• Oxford Journals. Evaluating Men’s Involvement as a Strategy in Sexual and Reproductive Health Promotion (2004).
• WHO. What About Boys? A Literature Review on the Health and Development of Adolescent Boys (2000).