Tuesday, December 18th, 2012
Globally, men’s health is a problem that has as yet barely been addressed. The Lancet’s recently published and stunning report on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) clearly shows the scale of the problem: in 2010, global male life expectancy stood at 67.5 years and female at 73·3 years. Although the life expectancy of both sexes has increased substantially since 1970, the sex gap is actually widening: from 4.8 years in 1970 to 5.8 years in 2010. Read the rest of this entry »
Thursday, November 29th, 2012
Men take longer than women to go to the doctor with symptoms of lung cancer and malignant melanoma (the worst type of skin cancer), according to research recently published in the Annals of Oncology. Previous research has found they delay longer than women with bladder and other urological cancers. We also know that men are less likely to take part in the national bowel cancer screening programme. Read the rest of this entry »
Friday, November 16th, 2012
Last night, I was honoured by an invitation to speak at a joint Men’s Health Forum/Royal Society of Public Health reception on the theme of ‘Challenges and Changes in Men’s Health’. The event was held to mark my departure (in August) from MHF after 12 years as Chief Executive and my appointment to the RSPH Academy of Experts. As well as being an opportunity to celebrate with friends and colleagues old and new, I wanted to map out some of MHF’s achievements and some of the key issues now coming to the fore in men’s health. Read the rest of this entry »
Tuesday, November 6th, 2012
Ask Your Pharmacist Week 2012 is now underway. The focus this year is on ‘Engaging Men’. This is a very significant initiative because men hugely under-use pharmacy services, especially for advice and information. The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) reckons that men on average visit a pharmacy four times a year while women go 18 times a year. Read the rest of this entry »
Monday, October 22nd, 2012
Current Biology is not a journal I regularly read. In fact, I hadn’t even heard of it until last week. But I followed up a reference to what turned out to be a fascinating article on the lifespan of 81 eunuchs in the Imperial Court of the Korean Chosun Dynasty (1392-1910). This might seem an esoteric subject, but only at first sight. Read the rest of this entry »