Who is killing men?
Man found not guilty
4 October 2007: A "not guilty" verdict for "Men" was the outcome of a simulated "court case" at the European Health Forum Gastein, the European Union's leading congress in health politics. Clinical Solutions formed part of the jury of health professionals, NGOs and policy makers that sought to identify responsibility for the early death of men across Europe. They incriminated the variations of emphasis by member states on early diagnosis, as well as the "one policy fits all" approach when it comes to men's health. The European Health Forum called for reform of EU public health policies to reduce the early death rate of men in Europe.
Men are dying earlier due to lack of health literacy, early diagnosis and absence of outreach systems for the management of long term conditions. Experts in The European Men's Health Forum returned to Gastein to debate the issue and identified the lack of development in public health policies as the reason for early death of men across Europe.
The development of public health policies and services should take account of evidence that men and women have different needs, experiences, concerns or priorities. By fully integrating an awareness of male and female health needs strategically and operationally, the EU 'gender mainstreaming' agenda can actively promote equality and improved health outcomes for men and women, rather than occasional awareness campaigns on sex-specific issues.
Taking cancer as an example, the result of the recent EUROCARE IV study demonstrates that, "overall, survival for all cancers combined was significantly higher in women than in men (55.8% [55.3-56.2]) compared with that of men (47.3% [46.8-47.8])".
Male survival rate is lowest in East European countries and in the UK among Western Europe. UK cancer tsar Mike Richards states, "Furthermore, findings from the high-resolution studies indicated that the poor results from the UK were attributable mainly to patients having more advanced disease at diagnosis than patients in other European countries. For policymakers, this conclusion is clearly of great importance, because it indicates that particular emphasis should be put on achieving earlier diagnosis."
The variations of emphasis by member states on early diagnosis were highlighted by health professionals, NGOs and policy makers. Similarly highlighted was the 'one policy fits all' approach when it comes to men's health. The reason for this was the near absence of outreach systems for the management of long term conditions. As a result of all this, men with rheumatoid arthritis for instance, are diagnosed late, poorly encouraged to self care their condition while receiving less than optimal treatment and management.
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