International Men's Day & Men's Health

By Aoife Breslin

Internationals Men’s day is up on us. I think it is the perfect opportunity to celebrate all the wonderful men in our lives, be they fathers, brothers, sons, husbands, partners, friends or colleagues.

Personally I am so grateful for the support I have received from male family and colleagues. It is important to raise awareness around male health issues. November also happens to be Prostate Cancer Awareness month.

Did you know?

“Globally, more than 1.4M men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year. Movember is working to halve the number of deaths from prostate cancer by 2030.”

I think it also important to highlight other male health issues. According to studies

• Men have lower levels of health literacy than women with men twice as likely to have inadequate health literacy
• Men are less likely than women to use a general practice or visit a pharmacy - in persons aged 20-40 women attended a general practice twice as often
• Men are less likely than women to acknowledge illness or to seek help when sick. Health is often socially constructed as a feminine concern

These are important statistics to highlight and we should encourage the men in our lives to get a check-up.

Movember also looks at mental health through a male lens. This is crucial.

“Globally, on average, 1 man dies by suicide every minute of every day.”

 “…6 out of 10 suicides are men.”

These are scary statistics. However the conversation has been started and we are going to keep moving forward. As we all know infertility can have an effect on your mental health, it is important that we don’t leave men behind in this conversation. Counselling, good support from friends and family and talking are vital to get through difficult times.

On the subject of infertility male factor infertility affects almost half of all couples having trouble conceiving. An easy way to assess sperm quality is to go for a semen analysis. We can carry this out onsite for a small fee.

In conclusion, it is vital we open up the communication around men’s health especially regarding mental health. Happy international men’s day! Give the man in your life a hug today!

Sources:

Movember: https://ie.movember.com/?home

Men’s Health Forum: https://www.menshealthforum.org.uk/key-data-understanding-health-and-access-services