Sir, - I have only just seen John Waters's column of October 26th on men's health, as I was out of the country. On the very same day as he wrote that "conferences about men's health were on a par with flying pigs" and that men's health was a "non-issue" in Ireland, I was addressing a group of academics and healthcare practitioners in Sydney, Australia, about men's health and developments in work with men in Ireland. It was with at least some pride that I was able to tell them how we have begun to address the neglect of men's health. In the past year alone there have been at least two major conferences on men's health run by health boards (one of which has produced a fine report on the event which is available from the North-Western Health Board, Ballyshannon, Co Donegal), and I know of others that are preparing strategy documents on the matter. John Waters also states that "there is no men's health council", but this is not true either as a national body of that kind has now been established. There are other important initiatives which directly affect the promotion of men's physical and psychological health which require recognition, such as the development of men's groups in socially disadvantaged areas, funded by the Government since 1994.
There is no doubt that we have a long way to go and such initiatives are only a beginning (interestingly, though, I learned that probably less is being done by the Australian government, for example). We are learning a great deal, however, from these initiatives about the reasons why we men neglect our health and the kinds of policies and practices that are required to get men and policy-makers to take more responsibility for it. It is very sad and damaging to see John Waters disregard the genuine efforts that are being made in this area and present such an unbalanced and incorrect picture.
Much of this could be avoided if John Waters would care, for once, to engage in a constructive manner with those health and social service professionals and academics who are working with men, men's groups and men's issues - and, indeed, if the same courtesy was extended to those who have done so much to place women's issues on the agenda. - Yours, etc.,
Harry Ferguson, Department of Applied Social Studies, University College, Cork.