Next week is Men’s Health Week across Australia and internationally and there have been some very troubling developments for those people working to improve men’s health and wellbeing in NSW with the NSW Ministry of Health announcing that it will not be replacing the current NSW Men’s Health Action Plan with another plan or policy.
The NSW women’s health policy is also up for renewal. It will be replaced, not with a policy but with a new women’s health framework. This framework for women and nothing in place for men appears to be at odds with the NSW Ministry of Health’s own Equity Policy.
New South Wales was the first government in the world in 1999 to produce a men’s health policy, which was followed in 2009 by the current
NSW Men’s Health Action Plan which expires at the end of June. As of July 1, NSW will not have any men’s health policy, plan or framework in place.
At the same time they announced that the Men’s Health Information and Resource Centre (MHIRC) based at Richmond in the University of Western Sydney will not have their current funding renewed as it has been since 1999 – instead men’s health work in NSW will be put out tender. This new tendering approach could spread men’s health and wellbeing work to potentially many organisations without experience in men’s health work and without any network or central organising body.
There can be no doubt that the current state of men’s health in Australia is very poor compared to women’s health. Men take their own lives at four times the rate of women (that's five men a day, on average). Accidents, cancer and heart disease all account for the majority of male deaths and males die five years earlier than women from many preventable illnesses.
MHIRC focuses particularly on the health status of marginalised or disadvantaged males - like Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men, unemployed men, separated men, incarcerated men, new dads and other males who may find themselves at risk of increased stress and therefore poorer health outcomes.
NSW was the leader in implementing a men’s health policy which has been the template for other policies at a national level both in Australia and Ireland. Why would NSW cease to fund the body they have worked with for over 14 years and which has, at little expense, brought considerable acclaim and positive media attention to the State?
MHIRC has an international reputation for working men’s and boys’ health. They have been consulted by, have held joint policy workshops with the Men’s Health Forum of England and Wales and been consulted by the European Men’s Health Forum, the US Men’s Health Network, and the International Society of Men’s Health on issues and policy around male health.
MHIRC’s experiences of coordinating Men’s Health Week in Australia has provided a template for how other organisations could coordinate such a week. MHIRC has achieved this for comparatively little money (less than the cost of 2 hospital bed nights per year).
The Men’s Health Forum on NSW Inc. the peak body for improving male health, wellbeing and relationships calls on the Premier to work with us and other stakeholders to create a new Men’s Health Plan for New South Wales and continue the good work being done by many to improve the situation for men and boys.
Media contact:
Greg Millan, President Men’s Health Forum NSW
M 0417 772 390
E greg@menshealthservices.com.au
