Practices and Reflections on Promoting Men's Health Education Activities – One of Xie Lingli's Reports from Shanghai

Promote men's health

Practice and Reflection on Educational Activities

Xie Lingli, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Population and Family Planning Commission

I. An Exploration and Review of Male Health Promotion and Education Activities in Shanghai

In 2000, the National Population and Family Planning Commission designated October 28 as "Men's Health Day." Based on the characteristics of urban development, the realities of population and family planning work, and the needs of the people, we actively sought ways to integrate men's health promotion and services. In practice, we initially formed a pattern of men's health promotion and education work that "government advocates and mobilizes, integrates social resources, stimulates public participation, and promotes men's health," which has effectively driven the innovation and development of population and family planning work in our city.

(I) Innovate thinking and incorporate men's health promotion and education into the overall framework of building a "healthy city".

The Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government have consistently prioritized population and family planning work as a crucial task in strengthening social management and public services. In recent years, while maintaining a low birth rate, they have paid close attention to issues such as reproductive health, birth quality, and reproductive rights. Reproductive health services have been considered an important aspect of improving the quality of the newborn population and family life. As early as the early 1990s, Shanghai's comprehensive education campaign on family planning (phase six) already targeted men as a key audience. In 2000, the Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government issued the "Decision on Strengthening Population and Family Planning Work," which proposed achieving the goal of providing high-quality reproductive health services to everyone by 2010. In 2003, the Municipal Government issued the "Three-Year Action Plan for Healthy Cities," which clearly defined four indicators related to men's health. Meanwhile, the city regularly holds joint meetings on publicity and education to coordinate relevant departments to jointly plan reproductive health publicity and education activities. These activities are integrated with the city's efforts in building a civilized society, promoting population culture, implementing the three-year urban health action plan, and promoting HIV/AIDS prevention education. This has promoted the in-depth development of the "New Marriage and Childbearing Customs Enter Every Household" campaign, awakened men's initiative and sense of responsibility in participating in family planning, and protected men's reproductive health rights.

(II) Focus on building momentum and leveraging large-scale events to expand social influence

Taking the "Men's Health Day" activities as an opportunity, we meticulously planned and carried out a series of large-scale publicity activities around the theme, selecting bustling commercial streets, important scenic spots, and residential areas, which generated a positive response from the community. For the first "Men's Health Day," we organized a concentrated large-scale publicity campaign. The "Population World" website offered online consultations with male reproductive health experts; the Municipal Reproductive Health Guidance Center opened a 24-hour hotline for male reproductive health; we compiled a popular science booklet on "Male Reproductive Health," with an initial print run of 120,000 copies distributed to men in communities; we produced a "Reproductive Health Wall Poster" special edition for men and posted it on community bulletin boards; the "Source of Life" television program and the "Healthy Life" radio program produced special programs on male reproductive health; and we held a large-scale exhibition on "Sex and Reproductive Health" on a traveling tour. In 2001, six "Men's Community Activity Centers" were established in the city, and various colorful activities, including population calligraphy and painting exhibitions and photography exhibitions, were held at the community level to advocate a healthy lifestyle for men. The environmental improvements and personalized services in 2003 were even more popular among men. Currently, the city has made men's health promotion and education a routine task.

(III) Strengthen functions and continuously improve the community's publicity and service network

The community is the main place for residents' daily activities. We integrate men's health education into community management, services and civilization construction, and continuously improve the community-based public publicity and service system for population and family planning, and improve the men's health publicity and education service network.

Community comprehensive service stations serve as an effective platform for promoting men's health. All 244 street (township) community population and family planning comprehensive service stations and 4,539 neighborhood committee (village) service rooms in the city have established specialized men's health services. Service personnel provide services in military camps, construction sites, commercial and leisure streets, and train stations-places with high population density. Simultaneously, we emphasize the role of community volunteers, providing guidance services for men regarding sexual dysfunction and infertility. In 2004, we further improved the management methods for community population and family planning comprehensive service stations (rooms) and community population schools, emphasizing categorized guidance and promoting creative work at the grassroots level.

Family planning guidance was used as a key tool to deepen men's health education. Drawing on advanced international concepts, we launched the "Family Planning for Every Household" campaign, explored personalized service models, and advocated for men's participation in developing fertility plans. In HIV/AIDS prevention education, men were the primary target audience. In 2004, we partnered with the Municipal Youth League Committee to launch the "Youth Red Ribbon" campaign, promoting youth health education and HIV/AIDS prevention. We promoted self-service boxes, bags, and folders in residential buildings and conducted a series of "Five Entries into Communities, Five Visits to Homes" activities. Through extensive community outreach, the city's male condom usage rate increased from 13.12% in 2000 to 19.6% in 2004.

(iv) Integrate resources to create an open publicity and education platform

Based on the diverse and multi-faceted needs of men, we leverage the city's abundant publicity and education resources to expand publicity channels, enrich educational content, increase men's participation, and build an open platform for men's health education and publicity.

First, we leveraged the mainstream role of mass media in promoting and educating men about health. The television program "Source of Life," the radio program "Healthy Life," and the website "Population World" broadcast and published special programs on topics such as "Men Also Experience Menopause," "Male Sexual Dysfunction," "Male Infertility," and "Men Should Also Participate in Family Planning." Major local newspapers such as *Liberation Daily*, *Wenhui Daily*, and *Xinmin Evening News* also published popular science articles on men's health in conjunction with the Men's Health Awareness Day activities.

Secondly, we expanded public awareness channels. Urban populations move frequently, and the fast-paced lifestyle demands quick access to information and knowledge. Recognizing the large number of citizens using public transportation, we proactively partnered with Oriental Pearl Mobile and subway advertising companies to deliver men's health knowledge to mobile TVs on subways and buses, and placed promotional materials in taxis and train carriages, successfully creating a mobile corridor for promoting men's health knowledge. We also produced the nation's first animated film on AIDS prevention, which was broadcast in over 40 cinemas throughout the city. Through the joint efforts of the city and districts, we initially established a population and family planning audiovisual resource database, developed hundreds of types of text, images, and audiovisual promotional materials, including "Sex and Reproductive Health," "Eugenics," and "AIDS Prevention," distributing tens of millions of copies and delivering men's health knowledge to countless households.

Third, we hold special conferences. Since 2000, we have held annual seminars and symposiums on topics such as "Male Reproductive Health and Family Civilization" to discuss the content of social publicity and education on male reproductive health, social communication models, the relationship between male reproductive health and improving the quality of family life, and male participation in family planning and family responsibilities.

In addition, each pilot unit has established activity platforms such as "Men's Health Salon", "Men's Health Community Activity Center" and "Men's New Life Club", which have improved the pertinence and effectiveness of men's health publicity and education.