The government has committed to developing and publishing a men’s health strategy focused on heart disease and strokes, prostate and testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention.
While there has been a Women’s Health Strategy for England in place since 2022, there has up to now been no equivalent for men.
Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting pledged to rectify this at a Men’s Health ‘summit’ last week, held with Movember and the Premier League.
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The strategy, Streeting outlined, will consider how to prevent and tackle the biggest health problems affecting men of all ages.
These include cardiovascular disease, prostate cancer and testicular cancer, as well as mental health and suicide prevention. It will form a key part of the government’s 10-Year Health Plan to ‘fix’ the NHS, he added.
A call for evidence will seek views on what is working and what more needs to be done to close the life expectancy gap between men and women.
Streeting said: “Just as we are determined to end the injustices women face in healthcare, we won’t shy away from the need to focus on men’s health too. This government will publish a men’s health strategy to tackle these problems head-on.
“As well as the call for evidence, all men are encouraged to go to the Change NHS online portal to give their views on how to build an NHS fit for the future through our 10-Year Health Plan.
“The UK National Screening Committee is actively looking at all the evidence for prostate cancer screening programmes, including targeted approaches for those at higher risk such as people with a family history. This will include looking at the appropriate ages for any screening programme, and ensuring that any programme is evidence-led,” Streeting added.
Michelle Terry, CEO of Movember, said: “When we improve men’s health, we know that the benefits can ripple through families, communities, societies and the economy. This will transform the lives of men, but also their wives, mothers, sisters, partners, mates, neighbours, children, teachers and doctors.”
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