The Men’s Health Forum has welcomed the gendered approach taken by England’s Chief Medical Office (CMO) in her annual report.
Following this year's annual report on women's health by the CMO Professor Dame Sally Davies, Health of the 51%: Women, the Men’s Health Forum have called for a future report on the health of men and boys.
Men’s Health Forum Chief Executive Martin Tod said:
It's great that the Chief Medical Officer is taking a gendered approach to health in her 2015 Annual Report. In 1992 a previous CMO published a report on men's health which was one of the triggers for starting the men's health movement in the UK. We would love her to follow up this report with a report on men and boys' health.
A major focus of the report is on tackling obesity, which is deemed a national risk by the CMO.
It is a problem that affects both sexes. The Men’s Health Forum has been active in improving weight management programmes for men to tackle obesity. In England, 14 million men are overweight or obese, and not adequately helped by weight management programmes. There is a link between obesity or overweight and an increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, which are particular problems for men. Still 75% of premature deaths from CVD are men.
The Men’s Health Forum, who have long called for a gendered approach to health, argue that engaging men and women in weight management programmes requires recruitment and programme content to reflect the different needs of women and men. To this end, the Men’s Health Forum have published:
- a Practioners 'how to' guide on how to improve weight loss services for men and
- the man manual Eat, Drink, Don’t Diet.
Deputy chief executive Tracy Herd has written a blog for the NIHR on how to engage with men by addressing gender, fitness and health benefits to tackle obesity in men.