One man in five dies before the age of 65.
TOGETHER we can change that.

Women's Health Strategy welcomed

08/03/21 . News

To mark International Women’s Day 2021, the government has announced a new Women’s Health Strategy for England.

The government is launching a 12-week call for evidence to better understand women’s experiences of the health and care system, with all women urged to share their experiences.

They promise that the strategy that emerges from this consultation will set an 'ambitious and positive new agenda to improve health and wellbeing and ensure health services are meeting the needs of women'.

'Works for everyone'

Matt Hancock, Health and Social Care Secretary, said: 'The healthcare system needs to work for everyone, and we must address inequalities which exist within it'.

Martin Tod, Chief Executive of the Men's Health Forum, commented:

We're confident that a new DHSC Women's Health Strategy will show the power of gender-responsive health care - and very strongly support it. We'd encourage anyone with research or personal evidence that can inform their strategy to respond to their consultation.

From our own perspective, it's great news that the Government has finally accepted that sex and gender play a critical role in healthcare and that policies are needed to address them: the case for a men's health strategy is now unanswerable.

The Government's announcement makes clear that the health system doesn't do a good enough job addressing women's particular health needs and their decision to address this is very welcome. The same is evidently clear for men, and the sooner that this is addressed and a date set for a men's health strategy to go alongside the one for women, the better for everyone - men and women alike.

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.

Registered with the Fundraising Regulator

Contact
Address
  • The Men's Health Forum
  • 82 Tanner Street
  • London, SE1 3GN

Charity registered in England and Wales (no. 1087375). Company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (no. 4142349).