Mission

The Men’s Health Forum’s mission is to provide an independent and authoritative voice for male health and
to tackle the issues affecting the health and well-being of boys and men in North East Lincolnshire.
In June 2004, following a 2-year Young Men and Young Father’s project in North and North East Lincolnshire a group of local practitioners were brought together by a training event delivered by the National Men’s Health Forum. The focus of the training was on young men’s health issues and though well received, those present valued the opportunity to network and share good practice and skills.

The follow up workshop, held in September 2004, saw the group identify the need to network more closely with other practitioners, many of whom felt isolated in terms of their own training needs and with the perceived lack of consistency of approach and direction.

North East Lincolnshire Men’s Health Forum was established in 2004.

Men’s Health Forum

The Men’s Health Forums were established to fulfil a number of functions:
• Create a strategy for working with boys and men
• Provide an opportunity to network with other practitioners
• Share ideas and best practice
• Discuss current issues and their impact on boys and men
• Review and share appropriate resources

There is an ongoing, increasing and predominantly silent crisis in the health and well-being of men. Due to a lack of awareness, poor health education, and culturally induced behaviour patterns in their work and personal lives, men's health and well-being are deteriorating steadily.

The men's health crisis is seen most dramatically in mortality figures. In 1920, the life expectancy of males and females was roughly the same. Since that time and, increasingly in the 1970's and 1980's, the life expectancy for men has dropped in relative terms by comparison with that of women. Men's life expectancy now is over 8% lower than that of women. The average life expectancy for men is 74.6 years that of women is 79.6 years. Over the last thirty years, the ratio of male mortality over female mortality has increased in every age category. Additionally in parts of England and among certain groups of men it is as low as 71 years.

From birth until the age of five, boys visit their GP surgery more frequently then girls. Between the ages of five and fourteen there is little difference in attendance rates; from then on it seems that men are often reluctant to access existing health services. It has become apparent that there is a parental expectation that once young men attain the age of 16 they are expected to seek out and make their own healthcare arrangements. With this in mind, it is not unusual for men to avoid primary health care services unless they are experiencing considerable pain or an illness that has become too serious to ignore. Men are also poor users of preventative services e.g. Choices services, family planning and dentists. Unfortunately, there remains a significant lack of research in this area but some possible reasons for men’s under-utilisation of primary care services may include:

1. Difficulty of access; often men’s GP surgeries are located some distance from their places of work and appointments are often only available during working hours.
2. Cultural norms, many men believe that they should tough out any illness for as long as they can and see seeking treatment as a weakness. Additionally men often see it as wasting a doctor’s time.
3. Primary care may be seen as a service primarily for women and children.

Although a great deal of research has used men as subjects it appears that men’s health remains under-researched. Most research, whether it be clinical or non clinical, looks at the impact of a particular approach or treatment on a sample of people and does not draw conclusions based on sex or gender. It is still common for research which covers both men and women to aggregate data so that separate findings for men and women are not available. Some male specific health concerns – for example prostate cancer – are widely acknowledged to have lagged behind in terms of scientific research