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 14th until Sunday 20th June 2021.

Since the start of January 2021, an all-island Planning Group for MHW (convened by the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland) has been meeting and corresponding to finalise the theme and develop resources for the week.  A lot has been achieved.

This year, MHW on the island of Ireland will focus upon ‘making the connections’ and the call to action will be:

• -  CHECK IN with yourself to see how you are coping / feeling, and to identify any health worries that you might have.
• -  CHECK UP on your family, friends, neighbours, colleagues to see how they’re doing and to offer support.
• -  If you notice anything worrying or which needs attention, CHECK IT OUT and seek information / help / support / treatment.

Make sure that you have the dates in your diary and are thinking about how you might do something to mark this week.  It’s never too early to start planning.  Have a look at what took place last year to give you an idea of what is possible: https://www.mhfi.org/mhw/mhw-2020.html

To mark its twenty-first birthday in 2020, the Men's Health Forum in Ireland (MHFI) undertook a research project titled ‘Men’s Health in Numbers’.  Funded by the Health Service Executive’s Health and Wellbeing Division, this sought to produce:

1. A comprehensive Trends Report that describes, in detail, changes in significant markers of men’s health on the island of Ireland in the last twenty years.
2. An infographically-driven Men’s Health Report Card that provides a lay person’s synopsis of contemporary key men’s health statistics in the Republic of Ireland.

These were officially launched at a webinar in December 2020, and you are invited to download a free copy of each publication at …

• Trends Report:  https://www.mhfi.org/MensHealthInNumbers1.pdf
• Report Card 2020:  https://www.mhfi.org/MensHealthInNumbers2.pdf

With the support of the Carers Team in the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, MHFI will be producing a Northern Ireland version of the Report Card in time for Men's Health Week 2021.

A full recording of the launch is available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/WwHZdF2OQLg

 

Tracking differences in COVID-19 infection, illness and death among women and men is essential to understanding the pandemic.  The COVID-19 Sex-Disaggregated Data Tracker is the world’s largest database of sex-disaggregated data on COVID-19.  It is produced by Global Health 50/50, the African Population and Health Research Center and the International Center for Research on Women.  Together, they are investigating what roles sex and gender are playing in the outbreak, building the evidence base of what works to tackle gender disparities in health outcomes, and advocating for effective gender-responsive approaches to COVID-19.  See how different countries are affected at: https://globalhealth5050.org/the-sex-gender-and-covid-19-project

Loneliness is emerging as a key public health challenge for the population during the Covid-19 pandemic.  Evidence shows that it is a significant issue for population health - as people who experience loneliness have a poorer overall quality of life and physical and mental health.  Register now for an Institute of Public Health webinar focusing upon the impact of Covid-19 on loneliness on the island of Ireland.  This will take place on Thursday 25th February 2021, between 11.00am and 12.15pm.  At this event, you will hear from leading experts and community organisations about the evidence, policy and challenges for public health.  To book a place, visit: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_d5XYgGcFTgWpF8NMkQg-cg

You are invited to join an online discussion hosted by the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust’s Men’s Health Network to explore men’s health in the next two years.  This will take place on Thursday 11th March 2021, from 9.30am - 11.00am.  The guest speakers are: Dr Noel Richardson (Director of the National Centre for Men's Health in IT Carlow); Hannah Williamson (Health and Wellbeing Coordinator, Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke); and Gerry McElwee (Head of Cancer Prevention, Cancer Focus Northern Ireland).  To register for a place, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

TILDA is a large-scale longitudinal study that collects information on the health, economic and social situation of a nationally representative sample of 8,504 older community-dwelling adults in Ireland and looks at how their circumstances change.  When the COVID-19 pandemic reached Ireland in March 2020, TILDA was uniquely positioned to document the impact the pandemic had on the lives of older adults.  With the support of the Health Research Board, TILDA surveyed 4,000 of its existing participants between July and November 2020.  The TILDA COVID-19 report covers a range of aspects of the lives of adults aged 60 years and older during the first few months of the pandemic.  As well as information on changes to normal activities due to social distancing and other restrictions on social interactions, it examines how these alterations to peoples’ lives impacted on their physical and mental wellbeing.  See the report at: https://tilda.tcd.ie/publications/reports/pdf/c19-key-findings-report/COVID-19%20Key%20Findings%20Report.pdf

To mark 'National No Smoking Day' on Wednesday 17th February 2021, the HSE would like to invite you to a webinar from Noon - 1.00pm.  National No Smoking Day is an opportunity to highlight how far we have come in relation to de-normalising tobacco use in Ireland, and to call on all sectors of society to support the next steps.  People who smoke are more likely to get COVID-19, and risk having a more severe infection compared to those who don’t smoke.  Now, more than ever, it is vitally important to collectively take actions to protect respiratory health at a population level.  Preventing tobacco initiation, and helping those who do smoke to successfully quit, is the most effective way of achieving this.  Register for a place at: https://bit.ly/3p227D6