Men's Health this Movember

Its November. It’s the month that represents one of the biggest charity events of the year and a really important one. Movember!

Prostate and Testicular Cancer

A time when brave men can channel their inner Burt Reynolds and grow their upper lip hair with pride. But it’s not just about who can grow a mo. The cause started in Melbourne Australia in 2003 in a bid to raise awareness and money to help support those with prostate cancer and testicular cancer. Last year, to try and reduce the number of men with prostate cancer progressing to an advanced stage, Movember announced a big collaboration with Prostate Cancer UK to harness researchers from all over the world to address and work on the problem.

This was the first big programme to be launched as part of the charity’s Global Cancer Real World Evidence Network. This is designed to bring together hospitals and research institutions from 19 different countries to speed up improvements in survival rates of men living with prostate and testicular cancer.

Men’s Mental Health

The other big focus of Movember is to try and tackle men’s mental health due to high male suicide rates across the globe. 60 men take their own lives every hour across the world. It’s a number that is way too high, and significantly higher than the suicide rates of women. It is well documented that men find it more difficult to talk when they are suffering so events, like Movember, help to try to break down these barriers to encourage men to reach out in times of need.

As medical practitioners, you are in a good position to help encourage more men to check on their own health and to make them feel comfortable coming to you if they have any concerns. You can also get involved in the charity awareness yourselves to start the conversations, even if you manage to get some, or all of, your male staff members to grow a moustache to raise some funds.

So how can you get involved?

“Mo-bros” and “Mo-sisters” can start by going to the official Movember website to sign up for fundraising. It’s a fun website with some great ideas on how you can get involved in a way that suits you:

Gro a Mo – start with a fresh shaven face at the start of the month and let it grow! No beards or goatees, just the mo.

Move for Movember – you can run or walk 60 kms in November to represent the 60 men who take their own lives every hour across the world.

Host a Mo-ment – organise your own fun event for sponsoring. Could be a dance marathon, Burt Reynolds movie marathon, coffee morning, whatever you fancy!

Mo Your Own Way – do something big, for adventure – skydive, abseil, something daring.

Above all else, Movember is a time to check in on the health and mental health of men. It’s a good time to ask those extra questions to your male patients to maybe encourage them to open up about concerns they may have about their physical or mental health. They are often more reluctant to come forward to GP’s if they are worried about personal health problems. Think about what else can be done to help put them at ease. 

We, at Williams Medical, have everything you need to help support your patients through medical challenges. We are experts in men’s health and are here to advise you on what you need to check the health of your male patients.