326A STUDY ON MALE PARTICIPATION IN MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH CAREReproductive health, family planning and child care programs have exclusively focused on the women. Women largely depend on men to access the health care. Men are the important decision makers in matter of health care for both child and mother. Study is intended to assess the male participation in maternal and child health care.A descriptive case series study was conducted with Husbands of ANC and PNC patients/mothers at HSK Hospital and research Centre, Bagalkot between June1st to June 30th 2011. Predesigned proforma was used for obtaining the socio-demographic profile, knowledge about pregnancy and complications associated with it; and their perception about the need for the active participation in MCH care, actual participation and reasons for non-participation. The data was tabulated in Microsoft excel sheet and presented.77.31%of husbands accompanied their wives for ANC checkups.78.66% of men were present at the time of delivery. Family size was decided in joint by both of husband and wife in 49.21% families. Tubectomy was main method of contraception in 57.33% followed by IUCD insertion. None of husbands got their vasectomy done. 81.13% of men took care of their children during illness and 77.14% accompanied for immunization. Husband along with wife is a principle decision maker in most of the decisions regarding maternal and child health care. Though the extent participation of males in MCH care is good, still there is room for improvement. Health education is necessary to improve male involvement in MCH care.rameshmayappanavar@yahoo.comResearch5102015Male participation,Maternal,child health careRamesh H Mayappanavar,Umesh Ramadurg,Manjula R,SantoshBiradar,Avinash Jugati,Aravind SinghAssistant Professor, Community Medicine, Gadag Institute of Medical Sciences, Gadag, Karnataka 582103, India.,Assistant Professor, Community Medicine, S N Medical College, Bagalkot, Karnataka 587102, India.,Assistant Professor, Community Medicine, S N Medical College, Bagalkot, Karnataka 587102, India.,3 Assistant Professor, Community Medicine, ESI Medical College, Gulbarga, Karnataka, India. ,Intern S N Medical College, Bagalkot, Karnataka 587102, India.,Intern S N Medical College, Bagalkot, Karnataka 587102, India.