The Southern Area Men's Health Steering Group invites you to apply for a place at their annual Men’s Health Seminar.  This year's event will focus upon ‘Strong Foundations - Healthy Relationships Matter’, and will take place on the morning of Thursday 13th March 2025, in Lough Neagh Discovery Centre at Oxford Island, Craigavon, Co. Armagh.  It will focus upon father-child relationships in the early years, young men's relationships, when relationships go wrong for men, and how to maintain relationships and connections in later life.  Plus, there will be fun interactive activities, and free refreshments and lunch!  If you are interested in registering or finding out more, email Donna Salt at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Believe it or not, it’s that time again.  Yes, it’s time to get the most important date of the year into your new 2025 diary …  International Men's Health Week (MHW) always begins on the Monday before Father's Day and ends on Father's Day itself.  This coming year, it will run from Monday 9th until Sunday 15th June 2025.

Every year, the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland (MHFI) convenes an all-island Planning Group for MHW.  Would you be interested in being a part of this process, and joining with others from across the island of Ireland to help to shape MHW 2025?  This can be done in many ways - from participating in meetings, to occasional electronic communication.  All input is very welcome, and helps to make the week stronger and more relevant.

If you would be interested in being part of the planning process for 2025 (in any way), email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

However, even if this is not possible, why not put the dates of MHW 2025 into your new diary, and start thinking about how your group / workplace / church / community / sports club ...  could do something to mark this week?  It’s never too early to start planning.

Did you know that Ireland was the first country in the world to develop and adopt a National Men's Health Policy?  Did you also know that they then followed this up with a National Men's Health Action Plan (called 'Healthy Ireland - Men')?  Well, that's not the end of the story ...  The Health Service Executive, working in partnership with the Men's Health Forum in Ireland, Men's Development Network and the National Centre for Men's Health in SETU, hosted a webinar to launch the Second National Men's Health Action Plan: Healthy Ireland - Men [HI-M] 2024-2028.  This event took place on Monday 18th November 2024 and you can view the recording of proceedings at: https://youtu.be/1pX5Cxvvadw  You can also download a copy of the HI-M Action Plan at: www.mhfi.org/HIM2.pdf or explore some of the key achievements of the Policy and Action Plan at: https://youtu.be/DWKuVXtLrWE

Have you seen the ARK Policy Brief focusing upon 'The Mental Health of Young People in Northern Ireland'? ...  If not, you might like to have a look at it: https://www.ark.ac.uk/ARK/sites/default/files/2024-09/policybrief32.pdf

The Healthy Ireland Survey is conducted annually with a representative sample of the population aged 15 and older living in the Republic of Ireland.  The data is used to underpin policy development and implementation, to monitor, measure and evaluate progress in implementing various elements of the Healthy Ireland Framework, as well as to meet many international reporting obligations, including to the OECD, the EU and the WHO.  For the 2024 Survey, a representative sample of 7,398 people, aged 15 and older and living in Ireland, were interviewed between October 2023 and April 2024.  See the findings and download the report at: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/d1ab3-healthy-ireland-survey-2024

Congratulations to everyone who, so successfully, marked International Men’s Day 2024 (19th November) across the island of Ireland.  If you don’t know what this day is all about, check out this short video clip: https://youtu.be/0xyTHUSVVVQ

Global Action on Men's Health's latest report - ‘No Man’s Land: How men are considered in global primary care policy’ - was launched at a webinar on 12th December 2024.  The study examined 27 global health policies and the way in which they approached male access to and uptake of primary care.  It found that over three quarters (78%) of those policies make no mention of men’s health.  Only 7% engaged directly with men’s health needs in a meaningful way.  Find out more at: https://gamh.org/no-mans-land

Maynooth University is conducting a new research project, and is looking for victims of a range of different types of crime in the Republic of Ireland (theft, robbery, burglary, property damage, domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, assault and harassment) to share their experiences of interacting with criminal justice professionals and processes.  The project is led by Maynooth researcher Triona Kenny, who is appealing for anyone aged 18 or over who, as an adult, has made an official complaint to An Garda Síochána as a direct victim of one or more of the included offences, to complete a ten minute, online, anonymous survey.  For more information, and to complete the survey, visit: https://tinyurl.com/2s42ahjx