UNFPA and the Public Union “Young Psychologists” (PUYP) with the financial support of the European Union are organizing a series of training sessions for healthcare professionals to increase the role of the healthcare sector in promoting the engagement of fathers in prenatal care.
UNFPA and the Public Union “Young Psychologists” (PUYP) will start working together to train healthcare professionals in three regions of Azerbaijan on how to engage fathers in prenatal care on the 20th February 2021. The training initiative is implemented in the framework of the “EU 4 Gender Equality: Together Against Gender Stereotypes and Gender-Based Violence” programme, funded by the European Union, implemented jointly by UN Women and UNFPA.
The healthcare sector and healthcare professionals play a crucial role in accelerating the expansion of fathers’ engagement in caregiving and promoting shared childcare responsibility inside the family. Driven by this rationale, the training sessions will aim at improving theoretical and practical knowledge for stronger communication and interaction between healthcare professionals and fathers.
The training sessions facilitated by professional health trainers will focus on equipping participants with information and knowledge on the benefits of engaging fathers in prenatal care as well as related impediments, through a set of tailored modules. The participants will have a chance to practice counseling sessions with each other and elaborate on the major principles of engaging fathers during pregnancy, labor as well as after childbirth.
The sessions will run from 20 February to 20 March 2021 and will target healthcare professionals from Baku city and the Ganja-Gazakh and Aran economic regions. In total, 30 practitioners will participate, 10 from each region, with different specializations: 15 pediatricians, 9 neonatologists and 6 gynecologists.
The project will not only enhance the role of the medical personnel and doctors in increasing the participation of fathers in childcare, but it will contribute to dismantling some deeply rooted stereotypes as well. Thus, the project will have implications for the future of gender roles in the area of childcare as well as the reduction of domestic violence cases.
More about: Azerbaijan
