Services and Clinics

South Valley Male Involvement Project

The NM Department of Health Family Planning Program is implementing a male reproductive health project, the South Valley Male Involvement Project (SVMIP) in the South Valley area of Bernalillo County.  The SVMIP provides information, education, and an opportunity for community members to access coordinated preventive healthcare services to improve the health and well being of men and boys.

The goals of the project are to:

• Improve educational and clinical services for men of all ages in the South Valley. 
• Reduce the risk behaviors that lead to unintended pregnancy, HIV and STDs.
• Decrease the prevalence of violence, pregnancy and STDs among teens 15-19 in the South Valley.

The SVMIP provides education and outreach, culturally and linguistically appropriate for the community, at middle schools, high schools, detention centers and community centers.  Education and outreach activities include Project M, public health interns, basketball tournaments, a locally produced play, teen dances and a media campaign. 

For more information on the South Valley Male Involvement Project call 833-9950.

 Why focus on males?

• Men’s sexual and reproductive health needs are often overlooked. 
• Engaging men in the sexual and reproductive health care system promises benefits for men, women and families. 
• Men’s involvement is crucial to addressing sexual and reproductive health concerns such as sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies. 
• Men’s behavior puts them at risk; they are more likely than women to have multiple sex partners and to use drugs.   Men’s behavior also puts women at risk for contracting STDs.  

“What is increasingly seen as good for men in their own right should turn out to be just as good for women - to the benefit of men and women as individuals, couples, families and society as a whole.” 

(In Their Own Right: Addressing the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of American Men-The Alan Guttmacher Institute)