{jcomments off}During Men’s Health Week 2011, the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland (MHFI), supported by the Irish Cancer Society (ICS), ran an island-wide poster competition.  The poster featured the two main characters with ‘thought bubbles’ coming out of their heads.  Entrants were invited to submit suggestions as to what the men in the poster might be thinking about during these ‘challenging times’ - especially in relation to their own health and well-being.  There were a large amount of entries submitted from all across Ireland, and the judges have now picked the three which appealed to them most.  The winners will each receive a pair of tickets for the launch of the ‘Movember’ celebrations in the Autumn.  This includes travel to / overnight accommodation in Dublin, courtesy of the Irish Cancer Society.  All of the entries can be viewed as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file by clicking here [PLEASE NOTE: This is a very large file - 3.77MB - and will take quite a while to load].
 

{jcomments off}Olawunmi Onafuwa, who is completing a Masters in Criminology in Dublin Institute of Technology, invites you to participate in an online research project which will look at the barriers to recognising and responding to male victims of domestic violence in Ireland - both North and South.  This research is being supervised by Dr Kevin Lalor (Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  / Tel: 00353 1 4024163).  Even though domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence have recently emerged as highly important topics both here in Ireland and in the international community, most often it has been framed, primarily, in relation to violence against women.  There is still a paucity of research on male victims of domestic violence.   The researcher will take all reasonable steps to protect each participant’s privacy at all times, and all the information gathered will be used exclusively for the sole purpose of the research.  The survey is available online at: http://survey4men.com   For further information, contact Olawunmi on Tel: 00353 87 7852636 or Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}Made publicly available during Men’s Health Week 2011, this resource booklet summarises the key findings from an MA thesis conducted at the Centre for Men’s Health in the Institute of Technology Carlow.  The study sought to establish best practice guidelines in tailoring lifestyle interventions for obese men in the Primary Care setting.  The thesis was conducted between October 2008 and September 2010, and was carried out in partnership with the Community Nutrition and Dietitian Service (CNDS), Health Service Executive South, and a number of General Practices in the south-east area of Ireland.  The booklet was produced by Majella McCarthy and Noel Richardson, and is available in Portable Document Format (PDF) at: www.mhfi.org/tacklingmaleobesity.pdf

{jcomments off}A European Union (EU) commissioned report, titled "The State of Men’s Health In Europe", was launched in the European Parliament on Tuesday 14th June 2011.  This report brings together the official epidemiological data from across Europe and across all major disease areas, from cancer and heart disease to mental health.  The Report shows that every year twice as many men of working age (16-64 years) die as women, with some 630,000 male and 300,000 female deaths across the EU27 countries in this age group.  If current projections are correct, there will be a reduction of nearly 24 million working age men across the EU by 2060.  Noel Richardson - Chairperson of the Men's Health Forum in Ireland - was one of the authors of this report, which also shows that the statistics for men in Ireland are very alarming.  A summary of the report findings can be accessed online at: http://ec.europa.eu/health/publications/index_en.htm 

{jcomments off}The Men’s Development Network invite you to participate in their 15th Annual Men’s Development and Training Summer School.  This will take place from Friday 15th July  – Sunday 17th July 2011.  The venue this year is ‘Dromroe Village’, in the University of Limerick, and the event will focus upon the theme of "Men in Challenging Times".  For more details, Tel: 051 844260 or Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

{jcomments off}Despite the fact that males constitute almost half of the population of Ireland, the world of local men and boys is still, often, a mystery to most of us.  However, during Men’s Health Week 2011, the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland (MHFI), supported by the Irish Cancer Society (ICS), is hoping to shine a light into what men are thinking about.  MHFI and ICS have launched an island-wide poster caption competition.  All men (aged 16 years and over) are encouraged to come-up with a caption for a special version of the Men’s Health Week 2011 poster.  This poster features the two main characters with ‘thought bubbles’ coming out of their heads.  Entrants are invited to submit suggestions as to what the men in the poster might be thinking about during these ‘challenging times’ - especially in relation to their own health and well-being.  And there’s a great prize on offer ...  The three winners will each receive a pair of tickets for the launch of the ‘Movember’ celebrations in the Autumn.  This includes travel to / overnight accommodation in Dublin.  The closing date for entries is 5.00pm on Friday 1st July 2011.  For more details visit: www.mhfi.org/mens-health-week-2011.html#Competition

{jcomments off}Hundreds of organisations from across the island of Ireland have organised events and activities to mark Men's Health Week 2011.  You can read about a small selection of these in an online PDF document collated by the Men's Health Forum in Ireland (MHFI).  This can be accessed at: www.mhfi.org/mhw2011events.pdf   MHFI would like to hear what you are up to - so that details can be included in this paper.  Download and return the form at www.mhfi.org/mhw2011project.doc if you would like to publicise your event on the MHFI website.

{jcomments off}In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of, and concern about, the burden of ill health experienced by men.  Despite an overall pattern of increasing life expectancy, men in Northern Ireland die, on average, over four and a half years younger than women do.  An examination of standardised mortality rates, reveals that local men have higher death rates than women from all of the leading causes of death and at all ages.  The high level of premature mortality amongst men in Northern Ireland has far-reaching repercussions; affecting not only industry and commerce, but also impacting upon the social and financial positions of families - through the loss of what is still, in many households, the primary income earner.  Within this context, the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland (as part of the Man Matters partnership) has researched and published a Policy Briefing Paper on Men’s Health (“Men’s Health in Northern Ireland: Tackling the Root Causes of Men’s [Ill] Health”, Policy Briefing Paper No 1).  This was launched on Monday 13th June 2011 to inform Men’s Health Week 2011.  Free PDF copies of this report are available online at: www.mhfi.org/manmattersbriefing1.pdf (966KB).