National men's health policy is first in the world

THE PUBLICATION of a national policy on men’s health has been hailed as groundbreaking.

But the failure to provide additional resources to assist in the implementation of the recommendations contained in the document has been criticised.

The National Men’s Health Policy 2008-2013, launched last week by the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (DOHC) Mary Wallace, highlights the need for a specific focus on men’s health needs and offers a series of recommendations on how to support men to take more responsibility for their own well-being.

In publishing the document, which was developed by the DOHC in conjunction with the Health Service Executive (HSE), Ireland has become the first government in the world to develop a national policy on men’s health.

Among the recommendations in the policy are: the establishment of a centre for research and development in men’s health; the piloting of a national men’s health helpline; and the provision of specific training courses for those working with men.

“To have this report out is just so important,” said Dr Ian Banks, a Belfast-based GP and chief executive of the European Men’s Health Forum. “It really is a milestone in terms of men’s health and the recognition from Government that something needs to be done.”

That such a policy is needed is evident by looking at the figures. According to the national policy, male life expectancy in Ireland is currently 76.8 years, compared to 81.6 years for women. In addition, men have higher death rates for most of the leading causes of death across all age groups and, on average, experience some form of ill-health or disability during the last 13.7 years of their lives.

The burden of ill health and mortality is borne, in particular, by men from lower socio-economic groups, who are, on average, up to six times more like to die from the leading causes of death than men from higher socio-economic groups.

Moreover, while the gap in male and female mortality for all causes of death is consistent across all ages groups, it is most pronounced between the sexes aged 20-30 years, with men in this age bracket 3.5 times more likely to die than their female counterparts.

“Most of the problems we have with men can’t simply be fixed using the medical model alone because they are connected to the environment, and cover such issues as class, ethnicity, unemployment, social isolation and suicide.

“Doctors can’t do anything about these issues but the politicians can, which is why the policy is so important because it now embraces politics rather than just medicine – so this is a massive step forward,” said Dr Banks.

The policy’s co-author, Dr Noel Richardson from the Centre for Men’s Health Research and Training at the Institute of Technology, Carlow, said that the publication of the document is significant because traditionally the spotlight hasn’t been on men’s health. He stressed that the issue of men’s health concerns everyone.

“Targeting men’s health can have a beneficial impact on men’s lives, and can also lead to a positive spin-off on the lives of women and children. If you take single-income families where the man is the main breadwinner for example, if he’s out of work for an extended period due to illness, then that has huge repercussions, not just for himself, but also for those closest to him,” said Dr Richardson.

He added that from a preventative point of view, encouraging men to take care of their health will also lead to savings in the health service over the long-term because, at present, men tend to present themselves later than women for diagnosis and therefore often have a greater impact on services.

While hugely enthusiastic about the policy, Dr Banks has expressed criticism over Minister Wallace’s announcement that there will be no additional resources to assist in the implementation of any of the recommendations and actions contained in the policy.

“To be part of such a groundbreaking move, but then to say that there’s not enough money to address the problem is frankly just not good enough,” said Dr Banks.

“It is a huge step forward that the Government has accepted this as part of their policy and that has to be commended, but the fact that they don’t have sufficient funds to put that policy into practice shows that saving the banks is considered more of a priority than saving men’s health,” he added.