The Men's Health Forum is a charity that works to improve men's health services and the health of men.
In the UK, one man in five dies before he reaches 65. Together, we can change that. Through our advice, research and campaigning we aim to reduce the tragic deaths of men and boys who simply die too young because of preventable health problems.
What we believe:
- There is an urgent need to tackle the unnecessarily and unacceptably poor health and wellbeing of men and boys.
- The health of the whole population should be improved through an approach that takes full account of the needs of both sexes.
- Men and boys should be able to live healthy and fulfilling lives, whatever their backgrounds.
We work to achieve this through:
- Policy development, research and lobbying
- Supporting other organisations and services to engage more effectively with boys and men on health issues
- Providing authoritive and unique health information for men - here at Male Health
- Leading the annual national Men’s Health Week
- Publishing the award-winning range of mini manual health booklets for men
- Working with MPs and government
- Developing innovative and imaginative best practice projects
- Training service providers and others
- Collaborating with the widest possible range of interested organisations and individuals.
We work across a number of health and related issues including cancer, workplace health, mental health and access to services.
Men visit their GP 20% less frequently than women and are also much less likely to use pharmacy, smoking cessation, weight management and health trainer services.
Our work focuses particularly on those groups of men with the worst health and we are striving to ensure that we take account of the diversity of men and their needs.
Successes include our campaigns for a screening programme for abdominal aortic aneurysms in older men and for the National Chlamydia Screening Programme to target young men as well as women. As a direct result of our work, Department of Health policy on pharmacy requires services to address the needs of men and national cancer policy also takes account of gender differences.
The Men's Health Forum was founded by the Royal College of Nursing in 1994 and became an independent charity in 2001. In 2013 we were appointed as a strategic partner of the Department of Health, NHS England and Public Health England. This programme sees us working alongside government to help health providers and third sector organisations improve the health of men and boys.
The Men's Health Forum is a registered charity (No 1087375).
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