Men's Health Week 2014

During 2014, Men's Health Week ran from Monday 9th until Sunday 15th June.

Each year, individual countries focus upon a specific theme. The theme for 2014 in Ireland was: 'Challenges, Choices and Celebrations - What's Your Aim?'

There is certainly a need to do this, as men, on the island of Ireland, experience a disproportionate burden of ill-health and die too young ...

Local men die, on average, four and a half years younger than women do.
Males have higher death rates than women for all of the leading causes of death.
Poor lifestyles are responsible for a high proportion of chronic diseases.
Late presentation to health services leads to a large number of problems becoming untreatable ...

Indeed, while many of these conditions are preventable, their prevalence among men may, in fact, rise in the future.

Please use the links below to find out more about MHW 2014 and what happened this year ...

Why should we focus upon: 'Challenges, Choices and Celebrations'?

Who can be involved in this week?

Planning Group for Men's Health Week 2014

Poster for Men's Health Week 2014

Men’s Health Week 2014 Logo and Image Pack

'Challenges and Choices' Mini-Manual for Men

How to keep up-to-date with the latest MHW 2014 news

What can I do to mark Men's Health Week 2014?

Tell others about your Men’s Health Week 2014 Event

List of some events and activities taking place during Men's Health Week 2014 (PDF, 489KB)

Men's Health Week 2014 - A Toolbox for Action (PDF, 358KB)

Men's Health Week 2014 Press Release (PDF, 270KB)

Why should we focus upon: 'Challenges, Choices and Celebrations'?
Not too long ago, we were unaware of the full extent of men’s poor health status and the specific health issues that they face. However, this is no longer the case. Therefore, we cannot ignore the needs of almost half of the population of the island of Ireland.

In recent years, a broad range of research has highlighted the health difficulties which face men in Ireland and further afield. For example ...

Men’s Health in Ireland (PDF, 2.13MB)

Getting Inside Men’s Health (PDF, 1.5MB)

Men’s Health in Northern Ireland: Tackling the Root Causes of Men’s [ill] Health (PDF, 965KB)

A Report on the all-Ireland Young Men and Suicide Project (PDF, 2.73MB)

Facing the Challenge - The Impact of Recession and Unemployment on Men’s Health in Ireland (PDF, 1.9MB)

A Report on the Excess Burden of Cancer among Men in the Republic of Ireland (PDF, 2.95MB )

The State of Men’s Health in Europe (PDF, 3.63MB) ...

This evidence clearly shows that there are many CHALLENGES to be faced when seeking to improve men’s health. However, it also highlights that men’s health can be improved in many significant ways - if we make the right CHOICES. Men, themselves, have a key role to play in this process, but they require support, encouragement and opportunities to succeed.

The Republic of Ireland was the first country in the world to have a National Men’s Health Policy. This was founded upon a comprehensive review of men’s health evidence (both nationally and internationally), as well as consultations with a range of stakeholders - including men themselves. Northern Ireland still lacks any dedicated formal framework / guidelines for assessing or meeting men’s health needs.

Now that we know what many of the key men’s health issues are, it’s time to do something about them. Men’s health is not just an issue for individual men. While it is crucial for men to take responsibility for looking after themselves, their health can often be determined by other factors outside of their personal control. Thus, there is also a need for policy-makers and service providers to recognise the role that they need to play, and to do something practical about it. Subsequently, Men’s Health Week this year asked everyone: ‘What's Your Aim?’

Frequently, we simply blame men for their own state of health, and focus upon the shortcomings of individuals. MHW 2014 called upon everyone to do their bit to improve the lot of men and boys, as well as to CELEBRATE the important contributions that males make to our society.

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Who can be involved in this week?
Men's Health Week (MHW) gives everyone (health professionals, service providers, youth groups, sporting bodies, community organisations, employers, Churches, policy makers, family workers, academics, the media, parents, individuals ...) an opportunity to encourage men and boys to take better care of their health and to seek help or treatment at an early stage.

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Planning Group for Men's Health Week
Men's Health Week (MHW) 2014 in Ireland was planned by a broad range of partners who contributed to an inter-agency Planning Group. This body met, and had ongoing communication with each other, between January and April 2014. It was convened and coordinated by the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland (MHFI).

The theme for this year’s MHW (i.e. Challenges, Choices and Celebrations) offered an opportunity for a very wide range of agencies to participate. Indeed, the planning process for 2014 drew upon the insight, expertise, support and contacts of individuals from ...

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Poster for Men’s Health Week 2014
To promote Men's Health Week (MHW) 2014, Shane McCaffrey (from Co. Antrim) starred in an Ireland-wide poster campaign to raise awareness of the week. We were very grateful to George Thompson and the Rathfern Company of Archers for the use of their equipment in this poster.

There were two types of poster available - hard copy (A3 size) which could be ordered by emailing Colin Fowler, and online electronic files in a range of sizes and formats suitable for a variety of uses.

The online resources are available at: www.mhfi.org/mhw/mhw-image-pack.html

Even people who didn't have time to do anything else for MHW 2014 were encouraged to put up a poster to let everyone know when it was taking place.

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Men’s Health Week 2014 Logo and Image Pack
One of the key aims for Men's Health Week (MHW) each year is to let as many people as possible know when it is happening. To do this, there needs to be a common set of promotional tools. These were available for free downloading at: www.mhfi.org/mhw/mhw-image-pack.html

This page includes generic MHW images, new resources created specifically for MHW 2014, as well as the ones used in previous years. There is a MHW logo in a range of sizes and formats, a web banner, a poster, and even a 'We Support Men’s Health Week' image - for groups and individuals who want to be seen to be doing their bit!

Groups and individuals were invited to use any or all of these images to promote MHW in their own workplace, community, organisation, project, business, Church, club, university, youth centre ... However, they were asked to acknowledge the source.

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'Challenges and Choices' Mini-Manual for Men
'Challenges and Choices’ is a free, 32 page, mini-manual for men on the island of Ireland which highlights a range of key challenges to men’s health and offers three practical choices for dealing with each condition. The booklet was written by Dr Ian Banks (President of the European Men’s Health Forum), and is based upon the highly successful series of ‘Haynes Manuals for Men’ created by Ian.

This resource was funded by the Health Service Executive in the Republic of Ireland, and the Man Matters project in Northern Ireland (supported by the Big Lottery Fund).

Unfortunately, all 10,000 hard copies of this publication have now been disseminated. You can, however, download a low resolution PDF version of it by clicking here.

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How to keep up-to-date with the latest MHW 2014 news
Everyone was invited to keep up-to-date with the latest news on Men’s Health Week (MHW) 2014 by checking out our Facebook (www.facebook.com/MensHealthWeek) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/MensHealthIRL) sites. They were also encouraged to click on the ‘LIKE’ / 'FOLLOW' buttons, and to send the link to all their friends.

For those people who are really into social media, they were invited to tweet about MHW using the hashtag #WhatsYourAim

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What can I do to mark Men’s Health Week 2014?
Everyone can do something to support and celebrate Men’s Health Week (MHW).

The focus for MHW this year (i.e. ‘Challenges, Choices and Celebrations’) lent itself to a wide range of ways to mark this occasion. However, there was no need to stick rigidly to this particular theme. Anything which promoted the week and encouraged men and boys to lead healthier lifestyles, to be more aware of preventable health problems, and to seek early detection and treatment for health difficulties was very welcome!

Some people had the time, energy and resources to plan something big. However, even if this was not possible, there were many simple, free and easy ways to get involved / show support.

To get inspired, everyone was invited to download our guide at: www.mhfi.org/mhw2014celebrateit.pdf

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Tell others about your Men’s Health Week 2014 Event
The Men's Health Forum in Ireland (MHFI) always seeks to promote the details of activities or events that are being held throughout Ireland during Men’s Health Week on this website. It is hoped that this will help everyone to find out what is happening during the week, where it will be taking place, and how to join in. It also gives some recognition and publicity to all those groups across the island that are doing something for and with men.

These activities can include health checks, conferences, launches, games, seminars, competitions, workshops, courses, displays, health fairs ... Whatever the activity, everyone is always encouraged to submit their details.

There were three ways to let us know about what is happening:

Submit details using our online form which can be found at: www.mhfi.org/mhw/promote-an-event.html or ...
Download and save a copy of our MS Word Registration Form, type in your details, and email it back to us, or ...
Print off a copy of our Portable Document Format (PDF) Registration Form, handwrite your details, and post it back to us.

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