Lack of men oriented policies driving them to early graves

By Bernard Muthaka

Nairobi,Kenya:Men may need to start urgent lobbying with the new Cabinet Secretary for Health. This follows a new study showing that while men are dying earlier and are at most risk for diseases, health organisations have largely focussed on issues affecting women.

 The respected Lancet Journal last week said that while men carry a higher burden of disease, policies focusing on their particular health needs are notably missing from the strategies of global health organisations.

  Data from a Lancet 2010 Report on the global burden of disease showed that all the top ten causes of premature death and top ten behaviours that cause disease affect men more than they affect women.

 The Lancet Review looked at how major global health institutions are responding to various health challenges. It found that efforts and resources are focused more often on the health needs of women. “Global health institutions should start tackling the social norms and commercial interests that push men to take risks with their health,” said the authors.

They point out such norms as drinking alcohol and smoking, which they said have resulted in men running three times the risk of disease compared to women.

 They said the norms are perpetuated by society and exploited by commercial interests.  “The global health community has made real strides in acknowledging and addressing unsafe sex, we must now do the same for unsafe gender,” said one of the authors. 

Statistics are unanimous that men die at a younger age than women. It is only now that experts are waking up to the fact that many years of attention to women’s welfare has blinded them to a crisis in waiting.

At the UN system, an entire body (Unifem) is dedicated to the cause of women, but no organisation gives similar focus to men’s plight.  It is worth noting that many studies have emphasised how men play a significant role in the risks associated with health woes such as sexually transmitted infections, placing women at greater risk.

 The Lancet report now says that the drivers of ill-health in men are the same drivers of the burden of illness in women, and society should not have lower aspirations for health for males than females.