...counseling skills-building services, rather on purely medical ones; treating individuals as important, both in their own right and as partners; paying attention to the broader context of social and economic development; and promoting gender equity at the individual and societal levels.

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When Congress passed the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003, it made history in several ways. Most importantly, of course, the act for the first time articulates a comprehensive U.S. policy toward the worldwide HIV/AIDS pandemic and calls for a major increase in U.S. spending on global HIV/AIDS activities. Another first for U.S. policy is that it explicitly acknowledges the role of men in empowering women in developing countries: The act calls for programs to be funded "for the purpose of encouraging men to be responsible in their sexual behavior, child rearing, and to respect women."

This provision reflects a growing awareness of the importance of men's attitudes and behaviors--not only in stemming the HIV/AIDS pandemic, but also in more broadly ensuring positive sexual and reproductive outcomes. Because of men's historic power dominance, much of the attention has been on their capacity to affect (and often harm) the health of women. The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, for example, emphasized the need for men to take greater responsibility for their sexual and reproductive behavior and for their roles as fathers and partners, largely as a means of empowering women. Yet, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has also forced the world to acknowledge that some of the consequences of sexual behavior can be as severe for men as for women, and that men also have sexual and reproductive needs of their own.

Indicators of Men's Needs

Although men have many similarities in behavior, outcomes and need, statistics about them demonstrate real differences by country and by world region. Unfortunately, these data do not exist for many countries or regions and are limited for many others. The data in this article are drawn primarily from the United States, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean, where the relevant data are most comprehensive.

Sexual behavior. The age at which the typical man first has sexual intercourse varies substantially across countries, from younger than 16 in Nicaragua to the early 20s or later in Ethiopia and the Philippines. In the United States, the median age...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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