Kenyan vasectomies broadcast live on Facebook
- Published
As the doctors operated behind a curtain, a panel of experts discussed family planning
Vasectomy operations on men in Kenya have been live streamed from a theatre in the capital as part a campaign to promote the sterilisation procedure.
At least 150 men booked in for the 20-minute procedure which involves severing the tubes that carry sperm.
Doctors performed the vasectomies on stage behind a curtain at the Kenyan National Theatre in Nairobi.
Kenyan men considering a vasectomy often fear the stigma of being seen as having lost their masculinity.
The World Vasectomy Day organisation was behind the event, which was broadcast on Facebook, external and included a panel of experts discussing "the myths and misconceptions about vasectomy".
Campaigners reiterated that it was a safe form of family planning and why it was important in terms of "the country and the planet".
"Many men have this perception that vasectomy causes a man to turn into a woman," Dr Jack Zhang, a Canadian doctor at the event, told the BBC.
"Some men fear that in Africa there's a high mortality rate so they need to have more children."
The BBC's Abdinoor Aden in Nairobi says some of the men who came to have a vasectomy were driven by economic concerns about having a large family.
Others said it was to help their partners.
"The family planning methods my wife was using have had bad effects on her so I opted to go and do vasectomy so that she can be relieved," one man told the BBC.
What is a vasectomy?
The 20-minute procedure involves blocking the tube that transports sperm
It involves surgically cutting or blocking the tubes that transport sperm from the testicles to the penis
Afterwards there will be no noticeable difference in the volume of semen, but it will not contain sperm
It can be reversed, but there is no guarantee it will succeed
About 50 million men who have received a vasectomy worldwide.
Source: World Vasectomy Day
- Published2 November 2012
