As Men’s Health Month gets under way this June, New Zealand registered charity Men’s Health Trust is reminding New Zealanders that there is still important mahi to be carried out in ensuring that all Kiwi men are supported and empowered to live healthier, happier, longer lives.
Men’s Health Trust chair, Pulotu Selio Solomon, notes that from the age of 40 years onwards, heart disease and cancer are increasingly common causes of mortality for men, and between the ages of 50 and 75 years, the overall number of deaths for men is 30 percent higher than for women.
A study of 17 European countries found men under 75 years have almost twice the number of deaths as women in the same age group. Although life expectancy has increased over the past half-century, women have consistently lived longer than men.
“Our vision is for New Zealand to have healthy men, families, and communities. Men’s Health Month is about inspiring men to make minor lifestyle changes that will have a major impact. It could be something as simple as developing a relationship with a doctor through an annual check-up, but even this could improve their overall health and even save their life.”
According to Solomon, common mortality issues for men, such as the prevalence of heart disease and some cancers, can be attributed to men’s adverse lifestyles, including excessive alcohol intake, lack of exercise and inappropriate diet. Men’s Health Trust has been promoting good health practices for the men of New Zealand since 2007, and Solomon says the organisation’s aim is for all men to make good healthy choices and take action to live healthier every day.
On average, one New Zealand man dies every three hours of a preventable illness, with death rates for Māori men double that of non-Māori; for Pacific Island men, the stats are worse.
“Māori and Pasifika men are particularly at risk,” Solomon says. “Although life expectancy for all New Zealanders has increased over the past half-century, Māori men are still dying much younger than any other group of New Zealanders: an average of 73 years compared to 80 years for non-Māori men. What’s more, the Māori suicide rate is much higher than the non-Māori suicide rate (based on rate per 100,000).”
Although women tend to have higher rates of depression diagnoses, they tend to seek help for mental health more often. Men are less likely to reach out for help and this results in a much higher suicide rate for men; compared to women, men are three times more likely to die by suicide.
Between the ages of 15–30 years, suicide is the leading cause of death for men. Twelve percent of male suicide attempts result in death, compared to just two percent for women.
Men’s Health Trust runs a number of initiatives aimed at targeting various pain points for men’s health, including the highly successful CHECKMATES PI programme which Solomon reports is continuing to transform the lives of Kiwi men, and is a programme close to his heart.
“CHECKMATES PI provides a free community service to men in Auckland, which has connected over a thousand members with various health and wellbeing partners and services since it began in late 2018. It’s a great example of what we can achieve with the right resources and supports in place, and we would love to grow and expand this programme to more Kiwi men.”
Men’s Health Trust is seizing on Men’s Health Month as an opportunity to continue its work on raising awareness around men’s health and wellbeing, with plans to introduce a new podcast, “The Menpathy podcast, brought to you by Men’s Health Trust and Two Dudes”, that uses conversation to bring confidence and comfort to men in New Zealand around mental health. The mission is to create a podcast with positive impact for New Zealand men, families, and communities.
The podcast will be a platform that allows well-known New Zealanders like Kevin Mealamu to share their personal stories.
Men in particular have trouble vocalising their mental health problems - the podcast, hosted by Alex Chapman, will remind them that there’s nothing wrong with sharing how they’re feeling. Mental health doesn’t target men because they’re weak, or stupid, or careless: it’s because they’re human, and men think and feel things.
This is just one of Men’s Health Trust’s contribution to a New Zealand with healthy men, families, and communities.”
#mensmentalhealth #menshealthmonth #ponsonbynews