By: Anu Matthew, Pasha Yuen
Men’s Health Week is celebrated annually worldwide and typically falls on the week around Father’s Day, as it does this year. The key aim of this awareness week is to highlight key health issues faced by men, who are notorious for avoiding the doctor and ignoring unusual symptoms. This week we hope to encourage them to speak out about their health concerns without fear of stigma or judgment and empower them to proactively seek help regarding their health.
It is known that men are known to have a lower life expectancy than women worldwide. Some of the major health issues faced by men include heart diseases (heart failure, arrhythmias, angina etc.), lung diseases (COPD, pulmonary fibrosis etc.), alcoholism, depression, and prostate cancer. Pharmora is a service provider, supporting clinical research projects to help bring new medicines to patients with such conditions, therefore we are passionate about promoting these health awareness campaigns.
King Charles:
Significantly, following King Charles’ announcement of his prostate cancer diagnosis, the NHS website had 16,410 visits the following day compared to 1,414 visits the day before. Prostate Cancer UK also saw an increase in traffic on their website. This important announcement not only raised awareness of men’s health, and prostate cancer in particular, but it hopefully encourages men to share their stories, as the fact that our own King feels comfortable to share this reduces the stigma of speaking up. According to the World Health Organisation, here are five tips for men to help achieve better health:
- Have regular check ups
- Reduce alcohol use
- Quit smoking
- Eat better
- Be more active
Pharmora joins in celebrating Men’s Health again this year and we hope men feel more supported to talk about their health concerns, and are encouraged to get regular check-ups and seek help when needed.
References
https://www.who.int/europe/news-room/fact-sheets/item/men-s-health
Prostate cancer statistics | Cancer Research UK
Moon DG. Changing Men’s Health: Leading the Future. World J Mens Health. 2018 Jan;36(1):1-3. doi: 10.5534/wjmh.18101. PMID: 29299901; PMCID: PMC5756802.
Kim SW. Men’s Health: What Should We Know? World J Mens Health. 2015 Aug;33(2):45-9. doi: 10.5534/wjmh.2015.33.2.45. PMID: 26331120; PMCID: PMC4550596.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5756802/
Men’s health checklist (who.int)
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