Men's Health in
the UK 
Menstuff® has compiled the following information on Men's
Health in the UK.
What's Wrong with Men's Health in the
UK?
Men's Health Week in England and
Wales
What is the Men's Health
Forum?
What's wrong with men's health in the UK?
- The average male life expectancy at birth is currently under
75 years.
- Men who are defined as partly skilled or unskilled have a life
expectancy of less than 70 years.
- The average man can expect to be seriously or chronically ill
for 15 years of his life.
- Nearly 22,000 men in the UK are newly diagnosed with prostate
cancer each year and about 9,500 die; the number of new cases
diagnosed is expected to treble over the next 20 year.
- The incidence of testicular cancer has doubled in the past 20
years.
- Over 4,200 men killed themselves in England and Wales in 1999;
the rate among men aged 15-24 increased by 55 per cent in the
period 1981-1997.
- Depression is a widespread but under-recognised problem in
men. At least one in five people men are believed to suffer
clinical depression at some point in their lives.
- Sexual problems are common amongst men: almost one-fifth of
men in their 50s experience problems maintaining or achieving an
erection.
- 45 per cent of men are overweight and another 17 per cent are
obese.
- 28 per cent of men smoke. The average male smoker smokes 111
cigarettes a week.
- 27 per cent of men drink more than the recommended limits. 36
per cent of men aged 16-24 drink excessively.
- Men are reluctant to visit their GP, especially for a
preventive health check - on average, a man aged 16-24 has a
health check once every seven years while a man aged 25-39 has a
check once every five years.
Men's Health Week in England and
Wales
Men's Health Week 2002 will take place from 10-16th June. It is a new
and major opportunity for a wide range of organizations and
individuals to work together to raise awareness of men's health
issues and to develop practical initiatives to improve the still poor
state of male health. Men's Health Week will be led by The Men's
Health Forum, the leading advocate of men's health in England and
Wales, with the support and collaboration of partners who share its
aim.
Why a Men's Health Week?
It has been a long-standing ambition of the Men's Health Forum to
establish Men's Health Week (MHW) as a well-known and clearly-defined
event that focuses attention on men's health issues and stimulates
health promoting activities at all levels. Richard O'Neill, a trustee
of the Forum, has taken a lead in developing MHW, especially through
men's health activities in Manchester which have generated
considerable local interest and publicity. The Forum now has an
opportunity to launch MHW as a major annual and national event.
Men's health in the UK is now beginning to get the attention it
deserves:
- The minister for public health, Yvette Cooper MP, has
frequently stressed the importance of tackling men's health
inequalities.
- The All Party Parliamentary Group on Men's Health was launched
in March 2001 reflecting growing political interest in the
issues.
- There is an increasingly wide range of local and community
men's health work - there are now over 100 projects suggests
currently up-and-running.
- Commercial organisations - from pharmaceutical companies to
supermarkets and fashion retailers - are appreciating that
promoting men's health can help them meet their social and
business objectives.
A clear opportunity exists for health and other organizations -
public, voluntary and private, national and local - to work together
to focus attention on key men's health issues and to develop
practical initiatives that can make a difference to the health of the
nation's men.
The idea of an annual national Men's Health Week (MHW) was first
developed in the USA where, in 1994, it was put on a statutory basis
by President Clinton. The US MHW is now well-established and linked
to a wide range of local and national initiatives. It is held each
year during the week that ends with Fathers' Day (in mid-June).
What will Men's Health Week achieve?
MHW will:
- Raise the profile of men's health nationally, regionally and
locally.
- Encourage a wide range of organisations to develop practical
men's health initiatives.
- Contribute to the improved delivery of health services to men,
including primary care and health promotion.
- Increase the awareness of health professionals of men's health
issues and their ability to work effectively with male patients
and men generally.
- Increase men's awareness of their own health and their
treatment options.
- Help to change men's health-related behaviour, not least in
terms of increasing their willingness to access health care and
reducing the risks they take with their health.
- Promote men's awareness of wider lifestyle issues (including
relationships, working life, body image and personal grooming)
that can have an impact on health.
What will happen in Men's Health
Week?
The Men's Health Forum will launch a national strategic plan to
tackle the poor state of men's health at a major media event in
London. This event, which will be attended by politicians,
celebrities, representatives of key health and MHW partner
organizations, is expected to generate huge interest and publicity.
The launch will also provide an opportunity for partner organizations
to highlight their own men's health initiatives.
Local men's health events and initiatives on a wide range of
issues will also take place throughout the country. These will be
organized by primary care groups/trusts, health promotion units,
hospitals, local authorities, schools, colleges, voluntary groups,
charities, employers, commercial organizations and many other groups
and individuals. These activities will not only directly reach
individual men but also generate local and regional media
coverage.
In the period leading up to MHW, the Forum will provide national
and local organisations with practical ideas for men's health
initiatives. These will include holding men's 'MOTs' in local pubs or
shopping centers, organizing radio phone-ins with local doctors,
working in schools on testicular self-examination, publishing
anthologies of men's experiences of health problems and launching new
policy or practice initiatives.
Working together for Men's Health Week
The Men's Health Forum will lead, co-ordinate and provide a
national focus for MHW activities. It will not seek to control and
dictate those activities, however. What is important is that
organizations and individuals use the opportunities presented by MHW
to develop the type of initiatives that interest and enthuse them and
which are relevant to their particular constituencies.
The Forum is seeking partnership support from the widest range of
organizations and individuals for MHW. It is not asking partners to
endorse every aspect of its national strategic plan for men's health
but rather to associate themselves with the Forum's commitment to
improving men's health and with MHW. The Forum also hopes that
supporting organizations will wish to develop their own men's health
initiatives in MHW (and beyond).
The benefits of partnership will vary among organisations but they
will include:
- Contributing to the improvement of the health of men, whether
those men are patients, employees, customers or members of the
public.
- Participation in the launch event and recognition for their
contribution in Men's Health Forum publications and publicity
associated with MHW.
- Recognition as a leading-edge organisation in a significant
but as yet under-developed area of health.
- Recognition as a socially aware and responsible
organisation.
How to get involved?
The Men's Health Forum welcomes the opportunity to discuss the
opportunities for partnership and joint work on MHW 2002 from all
interested organisations. Contact details are below.
What is the Men's Health Forum?
The Men's Health Forum is a charity which aims to improve men's
health in England and Wales through research, policy development, the
development of innovative and imaginative projects, professional
training and collaboration with the widest possible range of
interested organisations and individuals.
For further information, contact: Peter Baker, Director, The Men's
Health Forum, Tavistock House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HR
England or phone 020 7388 4449 or fax: 020 7388 4477
Men's Health Week e-mail: mhw@menshealthforum.org.uk
General e-mail: office@menshealthforum.org.uk
Website: www.menshealthforum.org.uk
Registered Office as above. A company limited by guarantee (No
4142349 - England and Wales). Registered Charity No 1087375.
* * *
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