Men’s Health Week is different from many health promotion campaigns. Often you’ll see campaigns that aim to shock, scare, compel or otherwise encourage people in the community to do ‘more of this and less of that’.

We think that there is a real opportunity through Men’s Health Week to empower people on the frontline of health to work with and reach out to local men and boys and find out what can they can mutually achieve to live more healthy lives where and as they live.

Local communities are the best placed to take a stand on the health issues that result in statistics like ‘five times more males than females take their own lives each year‘ and ‘men can expect to live four years less than women.’

So, what do we recommend?

• Health services and organisations, workplaces, clubs and communities should work together to create events and promotions that encourage men to remain active in aiming for good health. This means involving blokes in creating events that are fun, non-threatening and an enjoyable way to lead into better health.
• Men and their families and friends should take some time to actively plan for better health this year. There’s plenty of information, a host of health-related apps for health and wellbeing and many qualified professionals (including your GP!) who can provide advice specific to your situation.
• Most of all, don’t ignore your health. If something’s not right, get it checked.

What are we aiming for in Men’s Health Week?

• To create a showcase of events that worked directly with men and boys in their own communities about all aspects of physical, emtional and social health and wellbeing
• To help services run promotions, events and discussions with local men and boys in their communities for mutual benefit
• To promote systems that build male health and uncover the kinds of practices that work for men and boys.

What is the ‘Health Snapshots’ theme about?

‘Health Snapshots’ is about showcasing the diversity, range and variety of different events put on during the week around Australia and showing the community what’s needed to improve male health. An essential part of this approach is about uncovering ‘male-friendliness’ in services – that is, the things that services are doing that actually work for men and boys. Things like being open so that they can come in after work, or showing men that they are ready and prepared for them.

What ‘male-friendly’ means is “Is our service actually welcoming and helping men and boys to achieve better health?”.