In the UK, one man in five dies before the age of 65. These days, this is quite a shocking statistic.
This week sees the beginning of this year’s International Men’s Health Week. In 2002 at the second World Congress on Men’s Health in Vienna, representatives from six leading men’s health organisations from around the world resolved to work together to launch International Men’s Health Week. This weeklong campaign celebrated each year in June ending on Father’s day, honours the importance of the health and wellness of boys and men.
A primary goal of International Men’s Health Week is to tackle the high rates of premature deaths in men. It aims to do so by increasing awareness of male health issues on a global level and educating the public about what can be done to improve the state of men’s health and early detection and treatment of male health difficulties.
This year’s theme is ‘men’s health and the internet’. While there are clearly some health benefits to being able to access health information or deliver and receive health services online, this brings downsides including internet-filled addictions. The resources encourage men to take note of their screen time and take a screen break. This can include their CAN DO Challenge’, encouraging men to connect with other people, move their bodies, take notice of the environment around them, learn something new and do something for someone else.
There are many ways to take part in International Men’s Health Week, particularly as the events are planned so they may be easily attended by men with a full work schedule. This includes:
- Participating in the dozen of Social Media events throughout the week, including webinars
- Signing the Campaign for a Men’s Health Strategy
- Reading the blogs posted and participating in the online training
- Donating to the Men’s Health Forum to support their work
- Using the hashtags #MensHealthWeek and #ShowUsYourBlue to promote awareness
- Wear something blue on Friday and post your photos on social media using the hashtags.
In honour of International Men’s Health Week, we are posting a series of articles each day this week, to raise awareness of different types of conditions suffered by men that can lead to cases of medical negligence. We help many people, both men and women, who have received negligent medical treatment resulting in a delay in diagnosis, further injury, or the need for additional treatment, pursue a claim for medical negligence compensation.
