NEWS

Men's Health Week (MHW) 2009 ran from Monday 15th June until Sunday 21st June 2009.

The overall aim of MHW is to heighten awareness of preventable male health problems, and to encourage early detection and treatment of health difficulties for men and boys. Each year, there is also a focus upon a specific theme. The theme for this year was: "Men and Access to Services".

One of the biggest risks to men’s health is their reluctance to seek help at times of difficulty or to take part in health improvement programmes. This is often because these services and programmes are not delivered in ways that take account of men’s particular needs.

To mark this week, the Men's Health Forum in Ireland ...

• Distributed posters to GPs' surgeries / places where men congregate (such as Bookies and Golf Clubs) alerting them to the need to seek help early before a problem gets out of control. There were two posters disseminated - one for the Republic of Ireland and one for Northern Ireland.

• Offered GPs and other health providers some tried-and-tested "Top Tips" to support men to access primary care services.

• Promoted the importance of male health via national media. For example, the RTE Nationwide television programme screened an in-depth feature on the need to focus on men's health.

• Encouraged health care providers and organisations from the statutory, voluntary and community sectors to "do something extra" for men and boys during Men's Health Week. Click here to see a few examples of what took place throughout Ireland.

The Men's Health Forum also commissioned an evaluation of its activities during this week. Please click here to download a Portable Document Format (PDF) version of this report. The report is 1.5MB in size.

Other useful resources for Men's Health Week 2009 included ...

• A journal article by James Smith et al. on "Qualities Men Value when Communicating with General Practitioners: Implications for Primary Care Settings" (from the MJA in December 2008).

• The National Men's Health Policy in the Republic of Ireland

• The "Men's Health in Ireland" report by the Men's Health Forum in Ireland

• The "Getting Inside Men's Health" report by Noel Richardson - which helped to inform the development of the National Men's Health Policy in the Republic of Ireland

• The Resources section of this website

 

 

 

The Men's Health Forum in Ireland now has a new website. To see it, click here ...

 

 

Click on the blue button to return to the main Men's Health Week page

 

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