Movember statement on UK inquiry into men's health.

Movember welcomes the UK Health and Social Care Committee’s announcement that they will be launching an inquiry into men’s health. 

20 years ago, Movember started a men’s health movement. We listened to what men had to say. And we prioritised funding some of the biggest health issues affecting men: mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer. Since 2003 we have funded over 1,300 men's health projects around the world. 

We invited world-leading researchers and experts to collaborate with us and shake up the status quo. We’ve financially backed them when others couldn’t or wouldn’t. Breakthrough tests and treatments are the result, which are now the gold standard for care.  What worked was shared with Governments, the research and the health sectors and men themselves – along with what didn’t work, too.  

However, we know we’re only at the beginning of this complex journey alongside the men we serve. For years, men have told us they need to be dealt with differently when it comes to conversations and care, and their current health outcomes suggest we haven’t done well enough at reaching, responding and retaining them. This has manifested in men being far more likely to die prematurely most clearly reflected in the staggering male suicide rate. These health outcomes contribute to a five-year disparity in average life expectancy between men and women and these statistics only worsen for marginalised communities including men of colour and sexual minority men. 

By focusing on the root causes of men’s ill health we can improve men’s health more broadly. And by understanding men’s behaviours, evolving norms of what it means to ‘be a man’, and by improving the systems and settings that men interact with, we can improve men’s health and create generational change and healthier societies with benefits not just for men but for everyone. 

We look forward to working closely with the Health and Social Care Committee on this work and feeding in the voices of our supporters in the UK.