Tackling the Root Causes of Men’s [Ill] Health

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).