The European Men’s Health Forum is today warning that unless a fundamental change is made in the whole approach taken to men’s health, the EU will suffer both socially and economically.
The Forum were responding to The State of Men’s Health In Europe Report, which has been launched in the European Parliament in June 2011. The Report shows that every year twice as many men of working age (16-64) die as women with some 630,000 male and 300,000 female deaths across the EU27 countries in this age group. The Forum are calling for this group of men to be explicitly targeted.
EMHF President Ian Banks explains: ‘We’ve seen great improvements in life expectancy because older people – if they make it to retirement age – are living longer. The great black hole is men of working age where we’ve seen very little improvement in the death rates in recent years. These men have been neglected for too long. We need a wide-ranging and fundamental change in policy. This is the group we need to be targetting.’
The Report proves that lifestyle changes can make a real difference if only men can be enabled to make them. But it also places a responsibility on policy-makers and politicians to consider the health implications of other policies such as on the economy, education, employment and housing.
Men are dying prematurely but the rates at which they do this vary enormously from country to country and even within countries according to region or social group. This is evidenced by the massive differences in male life-expectancy: just 66 years in Latvia compared to 80 in Iceland, for example – a 21% longer life.
The Report says that the data proves men’s health disadvantage is an issue of inequity and not biological inevitability.
Dr Banks says, ‘The challenge for all of us working in healthcare is to find male-friendly policies that can change this in terms of information-giving, facilitating healthier choices, screening and access to services. But it’s also about the bigger society, the wider socio-economic policies. Men can’t make healthy choices if the work they do – or don’t do – and the social and economic structures within which they live prevent them.’
The EU-commissioned State of Men’s Health in Europe brings together the official epidemiological data from across Europe and across all major disease areas from cancer and heart disease to mental health. The Report’s lead author Professor Alan White of Leeds Metropolitan University in England said: ‘For the first time we have a clear picture of men’s health across the EU. Previously we had a series of partial pictures by country or disease area. This brings it all together so that policy-makers at all levels across Europe can see exactly what they’re dealing with and learn from each other.
Let’s make no mistake, it can be done. To give one example, if every country had the accident rate of the Netherlands we’d save 100,000 lives a year.’
The Report makes a strong business case for keeping men alive. ‘This is not just about health,’ said Dr Banks. ‘Premature male death undermines the economy, undermines families, undermines women and their health and undermines our social security and health services.’
‘Europe will have far fewer men of working age in the years to come so if we’re to succeed economically we need them to be in decent health.’
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All over the world, men live shorter than women and suffer more from heart disease and cancer. When the administrators of Indian Government admit that for decades India has been struggling to achieve the National Health Program target related to women, children and communicable and non-communicable diseases, men’s health was inadvertently ignored. Indian and International Faculty from Men’s Health Society of India (MHSI) and International Society of Men’s Health (ISMH) will meet and exchange their thoughts. Take a look at the Scientific Program of the First Indian Conference on Men’s Health 2012 (MHSI Scientific Program) and register now (First Indian Conference on Men’s Health 2012)!