Are men the new women? This was the question posed by a journalist writing in Canada's leading newspaper, the Globe And Mail, earlier this year. The piece, which addressed men's future, referred to many health issues that are central to the apparent redefinition of the male role within the family, workplace and society.
In the broad area of sexuality, the advent of sperm banks, in vitro fertilisation, sex-sorting techniques, human cloning and same-sex marriages are just some of the reasons why men might struggle with a sense of who they are and what the future holds for them.
Men are certainly the new women when it comes to research aimed at gender-specific health issues. They now find themselves where women were 25 years ago - a situation women have reversed through vigorous lobbying. There is now a huge scientific effort aimed at researching women's health needs.
Men lag well behind women in life expectancy, which, at seven years shorter than women's, can be directly linked to higher mortality rates for all 15 leading causes of death, as well as to a significant increase in what might be termed social disorders in men: alcohol and substance abuse, depression and acts of aggression and impulsiveness that lead to serious injury and death.
Take one of the biggest killers of men, coronary heart disease. How much of the sustained mortality is due to men failing to manage their health? Research has shown that men delay seeking medical advice even when experiencing chest pain, for example, and they seem to be resistant to listening to their bodies when earlier signs of possible heart problems begin to surface.
Deaths from melanomas, the most serious form of skin cancer, are 50 per cent higher in men than in women, even though they have a 50 per cent lower incidence of the disease. Melanomas are highly visible cancers, and there have been campaigns to educate the public about the warning signs and the importance of seeking early medical help. Yet men do not visit their doctors until much later in the disease process, with serious consequences.
So what can be done to overcome the problem? Writing in a recent issue of the British Medical Journal, Dr Ian Banks, the president of the European Men's Health Forum, outlined some of the reasons why he believes men delay seeking help.
Their knowledge of health matters is often poor. A recent survey by the Men's Health Forum found that more than 50 per cent had no idea what a genito-urinary clinic was. And 18 per cent thought a GUM - or genito-urinary medicine - clinic dealt with dental problems. There is some evidence that men care about health issues but find it difficult to express their fears. Those in lower socio-economic groups attend their GPs later in the course of a condition than women.
Men receive significantly less of doctors' time in medical consultations and get less routine health advice. Only 29 per cent of doctors routinely teach men how to examine their testicles, for example, compared with 80 per cent who provide women with information on breast examination.
We could improve men's uptake of health information and services by making them more man-friendly and accessible to a male working population.
Men should be targeted at work, through occupational-health screening programmes. Online health advice would also help, as would pharmacy-based health-awareness programmes.
What did last week's National Health Strategy have to say about men's health? "There is a need to raise awareness about men's health issues and to encourage men to actively seek screening and to seek timely medical help. It is also important to develop models of working which reflect the particular needs of men."
I look forward to seeing these aspirations being turned into practical and workable solutions that will facilitate a men's health revolution to mirror the hugely successful campaign mounted by women for many years.
