This year MHW as run by the Men’s Health Information and Resource Centre has had considerable success. The report shows the growing “pick up” of the encouragement from MHIRC for communities of all kinds across the country to DO something in their area to draw attention both to men’s contributions to the health of their communities and the need for services to reach out to boys and men in “male-friendly” ways. This was one of the themes of this year’s week. The others were “Encouraging good contact between boys and Men”, Encouraging Learning with and from Indigenous men” and “Encouraging Development of successful suicide prevention Programs”.

Once again the Australian Federal Police launched the Week, this year in the persons of Commander Mark Ney and AFP Federal Agent Daniel Mill, who represented the Aboriginal community within the Police Force. We note that learning with and from Aboriginal men have always been a theme of MHIRC and was highlighted this year.

Highlights of the week at MHIRC.

• Over 260 events registered across the country through www.menshealthweek.org.au

•  Over 10000 brochures, 4000 posters and 2000 checklists have been distributed.

•  Australian Federal Police Officers launched the week in Sydney on June 11th 2019 at AFP’s Headquarters.

•  MHIRC team has managed to reach 2 million people over 49 media interactions facilitated by Western Sydney University media team.

•  Partnership with Sydney Film Festival to display the Men’s Health Week posters during VIVID Sydney in Pitt Street mall for 15days.

• Social media campaigns by MHIRC and our partners Andrology Australia, Australian Men’s Shed Association and Australian Men’s Health Forum to promote the Men’s Health week have potentially reached more than 50000 people with various posts on Facebook and Twitter.

• 500 resource packs with promotional materials from MHIRC have been distributed to event organizers across Australia.

Men's Health Week Report 20193.25 MB

"Men's Health Week aims to improve health of men and boys by leveraging the goodwill, insights and knowledge of local services and concerned communities at a local level..." 

ABORIGINAL MENTAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT & SUICIDE PREVENTION IN ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIES

Aboriginal Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Workshop Outcomes:The training has evidence of improving cultural competencies of participants. Participants complete the Aboriginal Mental Health Cultural Competency Profile (CCP: Westerman, 2003) which provides a baseline of cultural competencies and generates a cultural supervision plan. Read more here.

The Men’s Health Report Card 2019 produced by the Australian Men’s Health Forum (AMHF) highlights a number of areas of concern including the fact that men in Australia are dying six years younger than women on average.

AMHF, the national peak body for men’s health, is calling on politicians at federal, state and territory level to invest more time, money and resources into improving the lives and health of men and boys.

AMHF President Jonathan Bedloe said:

 “This report card on the state of men and boys’ health in Australia tells us we must do better.

“Our sons are less educated than our daughters. Our brothers die younger than our sisters. Our fathers are more likely to die at work than our mothers. Our male friends are more likely to die by suicide than our female friends.

Read more here

Read the full stoires here. The Shed Stories (1MB)

[1] Epstein M & Gray F, 2011, Speaking Our Minds: A guide to how we use our stories, Melbourne: Our Consumer Place

The Shed in Mt Druitt, is a drop in centre for people at risk of suicide, originally  a space for Aboriginal men in distress, now open to anyone who comes. 

It is based on the research on the social determinants of health, more specifically, the determinants of distress and suicide; the Shed  links people to the services of which they are most in need.

"Men's Sheds... are all thought to offer social, emotional and other benefits to men who participate in them..."

"This study contributes to a body of research aimed at better understanding the need for male-focused community programmes, and possible barriers to participation..."

The health and well-being of men (SBEH) is itself an area of ​​study and practice. The men represent 50% of the population and, like any population group, they have unique characteristics and needs. Of course, men are not a homogeneous group and special attention should therefore be paid to those who are more likely to end up in context of vulnerability.

Australia continued to demonstrate its health leadership with the announcement as only the second country worldwide to implement a National Male Health Policy. The policy document pack begins with a discussion of male health issues and the public consultations conducted in its development.

The Namibia Multi-sectoral HIV/AIDS response is aligned to the 90-90-90 Fast-Track strategy in order to achieve the 2020 targets and end AIDS by 2030. The 90-90-90 targets require that at least 90% of PLHIV know their HIV status, at least 90% of PLHIV who know their status are on treatment and at least 90% of PLHIV on treatment have suppressed viral loads. The intended goal of the HIV response is a reduction in new HIV infections and AIDS related deaths by 75% by 2022 from 2015 levels and move towards ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

The catalyst for a developed and safe nation stems from a healthy society and harmonious family institutions. The health of a family depends on the health of every member in the family; hence male and female health are equally important. It is established that men have poorer health than women and are exposed to a variety of health risks. This is a growing concern globally and locally. In Malaysia, the life expectancy of males is shorter than women by five to six years, while premature deaths among men between the ages of 15-65 years is twice that of women.

This 2010 report outlines the health status and health challenges for men living in regional and rural contexts in Australia. 

Men living in regional and remote Australia face a different set of health challenges to urban men. This 2010 report provides a profile of this population of men and outlines the health challenges they face.

"Nearly half of Australian males have ever had a mental condition, one-quarter have a disability and one-third have another chronic health condition..."

Released in June 2012, this annual snapshot of the status of Australian male health focuses on five population groups that experience the most health issues.

In Spring 2009, the EMHF published a worldwide review of male health policies and programs, seeking to evaluate the different approaches used in different countries to address the challenges of male health.

Rites of Passage and the Building Young Men group mentoring program with Dr Arne Rubinstein and Brad Waugh. Listen Podcast here

In this episode, you’ll hear from CEO and Founder of the Rites of Passage Institute Dr Arne Rubinstein, alongside the General Manager of Panthers on the Prowl (the community development arm of the Penrith Panthers Rugby League Club) and co-founder of the Building Young Men group mentoring program, Brad Waugh.

Our guests discuss their experience in working with men & boys in their communities and highlight what it is that they feel is integral for success when working in this sector of community development and social change.

We hope you enjoy the conversation! 

Understanding Indigenous Methodologies with Dr John Hunter: Learning survival, sustainability, and healing through community. 

This episode was recorded in collaboration and partnership with the Men’s Health, Information, and Research Center (MHIRC) based at Western Sydney University. It is the second installment of conversations with social researchers looking into the health and wellbeing of men and boys.

This week we were lucky enough to be able to yarn with Dr John Hunter of the Gamilaraay & Wiradjuri people, and working at Macquarie University, who focuses his research and practice in Indigenous Methodologies through Community Based Action Research. His focus in today’s conversation is ‘Learning survival, sustainability, and healing through community. There could not be a more important moment for us to listen to John’s perspective here. Read more and listen to the podcast here

This is the first in a series of Men’s Health related interviews. In today’s conversation we look into many of the intersections of research, social work, activism, disabilities, Indigenous perspectives, which are all interconnected in the life and work of Dr John Gilroy (Assoc Prof at Sydney University). Listen here

Please Note: Several of the names mentioned throughout this interview have been edited in an effort to respect privacy.

This is a great yarn, we hope you enjoy!

Street Art, Researching Men & Boys, and Social Determinants of Health with Dr Neil Hall.
Full Episode here

We heard from Neil last episode for the 1 year anniversary of the podcast, and we are very happy to have him back on the podcast for today’s social work research discussion.

Today, Neil and Ben explore Neil's research work with a street art project in the Blue Mountains (one hour’s drive west of Sydney, Australia). Ben also spends some time asking Neil about his perspectives on conducting research in the area of Men & Boy’s Health.

You’ll hear Neil discuss his thoughts on a Social Determinants of Health perspective for health and welfare, as well as get an insight into what drives him to conduct the social work research that he does.

We hope you enjoy! Thanks for listening.