Knowledge, Perception And Willingness To Go For Vasectomy Among Married Men In Soweto, Namuwongo Community In Makindye Division, Kampala

Abstract

Background: Vasectomy is simple, safe and effective giving it an advantage over other methods (Mahat et al., 2010). The safety of an individual after the procedure is assured because services are provided in big hospitals mostly with adequate equipment and skilled personnel and side effects are mild and not permanent (transient) (USAID, Johns Hopkins and WHO 2007).

Aim: To assess knowledge, perception and willingness to go for vasectomy among married men in Soweto, Namuwongo community in Makindye division, Kampala.

Method: This study was a cross-sectional study that used simple random sampling method for collecting data, the population of study included the married men living in Soweto and the sample size was determine using the Keisha and Leslie formula.

Results: Results indicate that 88.1% knew what vasectomy is while only 11.9% had no idea about vasectomy. Out of 177 of those who said they knew the definition of vasectomy 87.6% stated that, vasectomy is a way of preventing pregnancy by cutting the sperm tubes. 52.7% of the respondents stated that one of the side effects or complications of vasectomy is that you cannot produce children. 49.8% of the respondents said that after doing vasectomy is highly very risky of not having children, while 47.8% of the respondents strongly agreed that vasectomy is castration of a man. 70.6% of the respondents said they don‟t believe that it‟s culturally right for a man to undergo vasectomy while 74.1% said they were not willing to go for vasectomy because it‟s not Godly.

Conclusions: Married men in Soweto, Namuwongo community in Makindye division Kampala City are more knowledgeable about vasectomy. Married men in Soweto, Namuwongo community in Makindye division Kampala City have negative perception towards vasectomy. Married men in Soweto, Namuwongo community in Makindye division Kampala City are not willing to go for vasectomy.

Recommendations: There is a need to conduct sensitization campaign by the health workers about the importance of vasectomy in the community to clear the miss conceptions. There is a need to train more professionals by the government to handle vasectomy and deploy them into health centres.