Men's Sexual Health Neglected; Report Blames Lack of Places to Receive Reproductive Care

Women aren't contracting STDs and getting pregnant on their own, but relatively little attention has been paid to the sexual and reproductive health of men, says a report out today. Researchers from the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit group in New York that focuses on sexual and reproductive health, compiled and analyzed national survey data about heterosexual men's needs in this area. "There are significant gaps in meeting men's needs," said David Landry, senior research associate at Guttmacher.

Landry cites two basic problems. While many women visit doctors annually for pelvic exams and Pap smears, there is no obvious place for men to go for routine sexual and reproductive health care. Men can visit a clinic for treatment of STDs, and they can consult with a urologist when considering a vasectomy. Otherwise, young men in particular are unlikely to see a doctor or nurse about their sexual or reproductive health, Landry said. Much of sex education in school comes too late for adolescent males, too. By age 14, half of all boys have entered puberty. Shortly before age 17, half of all young men have had sexual intercourse. By age 20, 90 percent of men have had intercourse, and nearly one-third have had six or more partners.

The report found that poor and minority youth start having intercourse earlier than more affluent and white teens. Black men are twice as likely to have herpes as white and Hispanic men. And bacterial STDs, such as chlamydia and gonorrhea, are probably several times more common in black men than in white and Hispanic men. The good news: Men's interest in their role in sex and reproductive health has greatly increased along with condom use, Landry said. At the very least, said the report, all men need information and education about obtaining and using condoms and other birth control methods, pregnancy and childbearing, avoiding STDs and how to discuss these issues with their partners.

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