Men's health policies 'significant'

24/11/15 . News

Men's health policies 'can make a significant contribution'.

That's the verdict of former Men's Health Forum CEO Peter Baker, who carried out a formal review of the National Men’s Health Policy (NMHP) in Ireland earlier this year, and now, in a new article, looks at its impact alongside that of similar policies in Brazil and Australia.

According to Peter's major review of the NMHP, which ran in Ireland from 2008-2013, 'much was achieved' despite the enormous impact of the economic downturn in that country. In the new article which also looks at evidence from Brazil and Australia, Peter concludes that 'the evidence from all three countries with national men’s health policies suggests that they are certainly not a panacea, but that they can make a significant contribution.'

The Men's Health Forum's manifesto includes a recommendation for a men's health policy for the UK.

 

The Men’s Health Forum need your support

It’s tough for men to ask for help but if you don’t ask when you need it, things generally only get worse. So we’re asking.

In the UK, one man in five dies before the age of 65. If we had health policies and services that better reflected the needs of the whole population, it might not be like that. But it is. Policies and services and indeed men have been like this for a long time and they don’t change overnight just because we want them to.

It’s true that the UK’s men don’t have it bad compared to some other groups. We’re not asking you to ‘feel sorry’ for men or put them first. We’re talking here about something more complicated, something that falls outside the traditional charity fund-raising model of ‘doing something for those less fortunate than ourselves’. That model raises money but it seldom changes much. We’re talking about changing the way we look at the world. There is nothing inevitable about premature male death. Services accessible to all, a population better informed. These would benefit everyone - rich and poor, young and old, male and female - and that’s what we’re campaigning for.

We’re not asking you to look at images of pity, we’re just asking you to look around at the society you live in, at the men you know and at the families with sons, fathers and grandads missing.

Here’s our fund-raising page - please chip in if you can.

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