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MEN’S HEALTH
As with domestic abuse, men’s health is an issue that has been systematically ignored by the authorities.
Issues like prostate/testicular cancer and depression/suicide are not taken seriously. Once more, all the attention seems to be on female health issues, another case of institutionalised sexism.
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men |
women |
coronary heart disease |
29,426 |
12,096 |
stroke |
6,514 |
1,059 |
suicide |
17.4 per 100,000 |
5.3 per 100,000 |
accidents |
4,321 |
1,597 |
cancers |
37,150 |
30,837 |
respiratory diseases |
10,895 |
8,079 |
The Men’s Health Forum have produced statistics to show the problems that men face:-
- The average UK male life expectancy at birth is currently 75.3 years. But men in higher managerial jobs (78.5 years) can expect to live three and half year longer than men in manual work.
- Men take risks. Two in five (39%) drink too much. More than one in four (28%) smoke and one in three younger men (35%) use illegal drugs.
- Diagnoses of both prostate and testicular cancer are up since the early 1990s. Men are now more likely than women to be mentally ill.
- Men are increasingly unlikely to consult a doctor.
- Compared with the wider population, Indian, Bangladeshi, Black Caribbean and Irish men are at greater risk of heart disease and stroke.
- Men in routine and manual jobs are more likely to smoke and have chronic health problems than other men.
- Men in the north of the UK are generally less healthy than men in the south. Men from Manchester and Blackpool have the shortest life expectancy.
The ManKind Initiative supports organisations which are campaigning for better health services for men. These include :-
The Men’s Health Forum
The Prostate Cancer Charity
C.A.L.M
For further information, please go to their web-sites.
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