Improving male health for the next generation

02/03/15 . Partners

The National Children’s Bureau has published two new reports addressing the important issue of male health.

The Men's Health Forum helped NCB with their survey work and reports on health for the next generation.

Evidence shows that men's long-term health outcomes are worse than women's, yet little is known about the developing health-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of the current generation of boys and young men. Factors contributing to these disparities in outcomes include poorer health literacy in men, social expectations, and reluctance to seek help.

The reports, entitled Improving Male Health for the Next Generation, present:

Findings from NCB's survey for men - NCB surveyed 138 men about their experiences and their views on how future health outcomes can be improved for boys.
Findings from NCB's focus groups with boys - consultation with boys aged 9-11 explored their attitudes to health and looking after themselves.

These findings – for example, that over 90% of men surveyed felt that social expectations and how males talk about health need to change – suggest priorities for further investigation and point to steps that may improve male health for future generations. The report presenting boys’ views begins to address the gap in evidence of from this generation.

More:

Both reports are available at from NCB
The Men's Health Manifesto calls for action on boys health and health literacy

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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