A-Z of Public Health by Glenn Laverack

Author:Glenn Laverack
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781137426185
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
Published: 2014-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

men’s health

SEE ALSO gender mainstreaming; health networks; lifestyle; mental health; sexual health; tobacco control; violence; women’s health; workplace health

Men’s health is concerned with identifying, preventing and treating conditions that are most common or specific to men (Sabo and Gordon, 1995).

Men die, on average, before women. The reasons for this are not completely understood but men may have some genetic predisposition for lower life expectancy and have different lifestyle patterns that increase risk factors: for example, men tend to drink and smoke more than women. The leading causes of death for men, for example, in the United States with variation for age and ethnicity, are diseases of the heart, stroke, respiratory diseases, liver disease, unintentional injuries and suicide (CDC, 2014). The state of men’s health in Europe shows marked differences in health outcomes between men indicating that as a population group they are varied and have needs related to their biology, culture and socio-economic context. Working-age men have significantly higher mortality rates than working-age women and tend to underuse health services. For example, levels of suicide are much higher in men compared to women but their diagnosis of depression remains low indicating the poor utilization of services (Malcher, 2011).

Men’s health interventions focus on prevention, education, screening test and stress reduction. Public health campaigns have focused on raising awareness of issues on suicide, prostate and testicular cancer, erectile dysfunction; alcohol misuse, obesity, smoking, heart disease, stress and sexual health. One men’s health project in a Canadian city, for example, focused on male immigrants from Latin America who experienced the stresses of finding housing and work in a foreign culture, with a different language, often under the uncertainty of whether they would be able to stay permanently. These men also smoked and this was the focus of a health department that initially used education campaigns, designed in culturally sensitive ways and marketed through channels such as church and refugee assistance groups. But community workers also knew that, until their lives and living conditions improved, smoking would never be much of an issue for these men. Spanish-speaking health workers, still working to develop smoking awareness interventions, also asked the men about their greatest health worries. Consensus developed that their teenage children had nowhere to go and to combat drugs and petty crime they wanted to create a drop-in centre for Hispanic youth. The project then started to address stress and the quality of men’s participation in the youth centre as role models and leaders (Labonte, 1998).

Public health campaigns have also built public/private initiatives, for example, the Premier Football League in the United Kingdom made a pledge as part of the Responsibility Deal initiative in the United Kingdom to promote healthier lifestyles. The purpose was to increase levels of physical activity amongst adult male football fans, aged 18–35 years and living in areas of high deprivation with the aim of reducing coronary heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Sessions were held at community venues and delivered by a health trainer seconded to the football club to encourage physical activity.

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