(Re)conceptualizing fatherhood and men’s antenatal care participation in rural sub-Saharan Africa: Ubuntu and social capital perspectives

Despite increased efforts to engage men in antenatal care (ANC) across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), dominant models of fatherhood and participation remain grounded in biomedical paradigms that emphasize individual behavior and clinic attendance. Such models marginalize the relational, communal, and culturally embedded ways men support pregnancy and ANC. Drawing on findings synthesized across four interrelated scoping reviews, this paper advances an integrated Ubuntu–social capital framework for (re)conceptualizing fatherhood and men’s ANC participation in rural SSA. Across the reviews, men frequently supported pregnancy and ANC through financial provision, consultation with family and community members, engagement with indigenous care providers, and other relational practices that often extend beyond attendance at health facilities. Employing Ubuntu and social capital perspectives, we demonstrate that men contribute to ANC through moral responsibilities, relational networks, and plural care systems, often outside formal care settings. Ubuntu, an African relational ethic, centers personhood as achieved through communal care and moral responsibility. Social capital elucidates mechanisms through which men mobilize resources, enact reciprocal caregiving, and navigate diverse health systems. Together, these frameworks provide a contextually rooted understanding of fatherhood and men’s ANC participation as collective, relational, and ethically situated practices. We conclude by outlining implications for policy, practice, and research.