NATIONAL MALE HEALTH POLICY

MEDIA RELEASE

The Men’s Advisory Network (MAN) congratulates the federal government on announcing the first ever national male health policy today. Click here for copy of pdf - National Male Health Policy

MAN has been calling on both the state and federal governments to develop a policy and strategic plan on men’s health for several years.

In the past it has appeared from the lack of a public policy response to the needs of men and boys that governments have not been serious about addressing these issues, which include:

Men’s Health - the health profile of men is much worse than that of women.

Suicide - the suicide rate of men is four times that of women at the national level and eight times that of women in rural areas. More males take their own lives than are killed on our roads.

Boys’ Education - boys are generally not performing as well as girls on a range of measure of educational achievement and engagement.

Violence - the ABS Personal Safety Survey (2005) found that a large number of men (10.8%) were the victims of violence in the past 12 months, which is almost double that of women (5.8%).

Intimate Partner Abuse of Men - the ABS survey also found that between 22% and 30% of victims of domestic violence were men, depending on what measure was used.

Work-related Injuries and Illnesses - more than twice as many males as females experience work-related injuries and illnesses.

Road Traffic Accidents - males experience 73 per cent of the burden of death and injury for road accidents in Australia.

Gary Bryant, MAN Executive Officer, said “This long overdue national policy is a great step forward. I hope that the state government will now follow suit and also develop a policy and strategic plan to deal with these issues that impact on men and boys.”

Leading WA businessmen John Langoulant and John Akehurst along with Kim Snowball, Tim Marney and Rob Donovan will be some of the speakers at the Healthy Men, Healthy Profits seminar that MAN is conducting on 9 August 2010 at the Hyatt Hotel.

For media response contact: Paul Pulé 0409 054 069

MAN is the peak body for service providers, organisations and individuals concerned with men’s health, wellbeing and other issues affecting men and boys in Western Australia. It receives financial support from the Department of Health.

MAN’s aim is that all men and boys in Western Australia have an excellent quality of life. This includes their physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual wellbeing, plus interpersonal relationships.

Further information on MAN is available from Paul Pulé, Consultant Executive Officer
Phone/Fax: (08) 9218 8044
Email: admin@man.org.au
Website: www.man.org.au