{jcomments off}Cancer Focus NI launched a three month campaign in June 2014 in partnership with the Daily Mirror and with the support of 14 local charities.  The campaign calls for equality of access to 38 cancer drugs that are available to patients in England, Scotland and, shortly, Wales, but not readily available to patients in Northern Ireland.  The campaign initially aimed to secure 10,000 pledges of support - to be presented to Health Minister, Edwin Poots, this autumn.  However, after reaching that number in only 11 days, they have doubled the number of pledges, and are aiming for a massive 20,000.  Anyone who would like to pledge their support should visit: www.equalaccessni.org

{jcomments off}The Western Health and Social Care Trust Health Improvement Department has just released their training brochure for the period September 2014 - March 2015.  To see what’s being offered, visit: www.mhfi.org/WHSCTtraining14-15.pdf

{jcomments off}The Green Ribbon campaign during May 2014 saw over 500 events and projects take place across the country, 300,000 Green Ribbons distributed free of charge at Irish rail stations and Citizens' Information locations nationwide, and the collaboration of 90 partner organisations, 100s of volunteers and over 50 ambassadors.  This led to a total of 1.6 million conversations about mental health in Ireland.  For a copy of the impact report, see: www.seechange.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/GR-impact-report-Final1.pdf

{jcomments off}In a personal view (www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g4834) published in the BMJ today (Wednesday 30th July 2014), Dr Gillian Prue, from the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Queen’s University Belfast, and a member of the Men's Health Forum in Ireland, says that boys should be vaccinated against the HPV virus as well as girls.  Gillian highlights how the human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is common in men, and can lead to genital warts and the development of some head and neck, anal or penile cancers.  She says that the incidence of this has increased in the past two decades; with HPV causing 5% of all human cancers.  Since September 2008, a free vaccination has been available for 12-13 year old girls in the UK, with a catch up programme for girls up to age 18.  However, Australia, the USA, Austria and parts of Canada have introduced a vaccination for both boys and girls.  This article makes a strong case for including boys in the vaccination programme in the UK and elsewhere.  The authors of a linked editorial in the BMJ also ask 'What about the boys?'  Professor Stanley, Dr O’Mahony and Dr Barton say that they share the Royal College of Surgeons’ disappointment about the lack of response to concerns about the 'inequity of vaccinating only girls against HPV'.

{jcomments off}The National Centre for Men's Health (within the Institute of Technology Carlow) is, currently, designing a best practice resource for service providers either working with men or looking to engage men in future initiatives.  In order to tailor this material to service providers' unique experiences and needs, they have designed a short online survey, and are asking for your help to promote and complete it.  The survey only has nine questions, should take about five minutes to complete, and aims to identify topics and formats for a new resource.  The survey can be found at: www.supersimplesurvey.com/Survey/8216/Mens_Health_Resource_Service_Provider_Survey__/  If you have any questions about this research, contact Maya Lefkowich, Research Assistant, at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}If you are over 18 years of age, you are invited to participate in an Irish study investigating factors which may affect dental health and motivation to attend the dentist.  This research is being conducted by Andrea Burke Beausang - a Health Psychology Masters student in the National University of Ireland, Galway.  It is hoped that this research will help to identify and increase understanding of the barriers and facilitators to attending the dentist and dental care.  View the online survey at: www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1659750/An-Irish-study-on-factors-that-may-affect-dental-health-and-motivation-to-attend-the-dentist

{jcomments off}There’s no denying that the state of men’s health on the island of Ireland is often poor.  However, there are things which can be done to change this situation and men, themselves, can play a key role in doing this.  This free 32 page mini-manual (based upon the ‘Haynes Manual’ model) was launched by the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland to mark Men’s Health Week 2014.   It poses ten simple and practical health challenges to men and, to meet every challenge, it offers three choices.  The publication of this booklet has only been possible because of the generous support given by the Health Service Executive in the Republic of Ireland and the author - Dr Ian Banks.  All of the hard copies of this publication are now gone.  However, you can still access a low resolution PDF version by clicking here.

{jcomments off}Globally, men die five years earlier than women and are 50% more likely to die between the ages of 15 and 60.  In countries classified as ‘least developed’ and ‘less developed’ by the United Nations, adult mortality fell faster among women than among men between 1992 and 2012.  In every part of the world, men’s health outcomes are substantially worse than women’s, yet this inequality has received little national, regional or global attention from health policymakers or healthcare providers.  At the start of Men’s Health Week 2014, a new organisation called Global Action on Men’s Health (GAMH) was launched to issue an urgent call to improve the poor state of men’s health in every part of the world.  It is backed by eight organisations based on four continents: Australian Men’s Health Forum, Canadian Men’s Health Foundation, Danish Men’s Health Society, European Men’s Health Forum, Men’s Health Forum England and Wales, Men’s Health Forum in Ireland, Prostate Cancer Education Council/Men’s Health Alliance (USA), and Sonke Gender Justice (South Africa).  GAMH wants the World Health Organisation, other international public health bodies, and individual governments to acknowledge the scale of the problems facing men and boys and to take sustained action to tackle them.  This work should sit alongside continuing action to improve the health of women and girls.  For more details see: www.gamh.org