Surely men should have their day too...

Posted by Shelina Visram, Senior lecturer in public health, Newcastle University (on behalf of the BoroManCan research team)

*Trigger warning: mental health and suicide

Unless you’re a fan of the comedian and writer Richard Herring, you may not have given much thought to International Men’s Day. For almost a decade Herring has raised huge sums of money for the domestic violence charity Refuge by spending International Women's Day (8 March) answering each person who asks on Twitter 'But when is International Men's Day?' He then follows up the enquiries on International Men’s Day (19 November) to raise money for CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably. 

It’s genuinely today. What are you going to be doing? Would you say the problem is that men are only interested in IMD when they think there isn’t one, but don’t want to do anything when it comes around? Genuine question. https://t.co/nAzbGtqBNE

— Richard K Herring (@Herring1967) November 19, 2019

Presumably, these people are under the illusion that there is no dedicated day to celebrate men, yet International Men’s Day was founded in 1999 to do just that. The theme for 2020 is ‘Better health for men and boys’ with the strapline ‘Laugh stronger, live longer’, but many have struggled to find reasons to be cheerful this year. Although women are more likely to suffer the social and economic consequences of the pandemic, being a man greatly increases the risk of death from COVID-19.^(1,2) Men tend to have many underlying health conditions that worsen coronavirus and generally contribute towards lower life expectancy. Our region (North East England) is likely to see high numbers of COVID-related deaths but also significant impacts in terms of poverty and unemployment, given that the North of England’s economy has been hit hardest by the pandemic.⁽³⁾

We don’t yet know what long-term impact the lockdowns will have on mental health and wellbeing, but early reports suggest an increase in suicide. Globally, men were almost twice as likely to die by suicide as women were before the pandemic.⁽⁴⁾ Harmful masculine norms – in other words, what it means to be a man – are a key driver of suicidal tendencies and encourage risk-taking behaviours like drinking and smoking. These norms often stop men from seeking medical help and have a knock-on effect on women’s lives, placing increased responsibilities on them to care for men’s wellbeing.⁽⁵⁾ They also affect women in other ways, for example, there have been reports of a dramatic increase in domestic violence during the pandemic.

Today is #InternationalMensDay, checking in on a mate only takes a few seconds, just a text, or a stupid tweet, or a quick call can make all the difference to a mate who may be going through a hard time. So give it a go! For more information there's Alan... pic.twitter.com/Vcnuxt2j71

— Dave (@davechannel) November 19, 2019

So, not much to celebrate this year then? Well, actually, there is some cause for optimism. Men’s health is starting to move up the agenda in policy and practice. I was involved in an evidence review and expert meeting to inform the first World Health Organization strategy on men’s health and wellbeing in Europe, which was published in 2018. World Health Statistics were separated by sex from 2019 so that we can better understand gender differences that affect health outcomes. There are also a number of initiatives that have adopted gender-sensitive approaches to actively address masculine norms, for example, through rugby or football.^(6,7) In the North East, the BoroManCan campaign aims to inspire positive behavioural, health and culture change in Middlesbrough, where four out of five suicides involve men and the rate of male suicide is the second highest in the country. Various activities have been developed in partnership with community groups, including Barbers for Health, young men’s workshops in schools, and a one-day training course to develop Men’s Health Champions. Many of these activities are on hold because of the pandemic but the BoroManCan website, podcast and social media pages continue to share stories from local men and services, as well as providing advice and links to further support.

To infinity... and beyond!

I’m working with a team from Newcastle, Durham and Teesside Universities to develop a programme of research around men’s health and wellbeing. We were recently awarded funding from the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East & North Cumbria to conduct research that will help practice partners begin to understand what has worked so far in relation to BoroManCan and where improvements can be made. Findings and outputs will be shared widely so they can be used to inform the development of similar initiatives aimed at addressing gender equality. I’m looking forward to being part of efforts to change the conversation around men’s health and wellbeing, not least because my own little man celebrates his birthday the day after International Men’s Day. Hopefully by the time he’s older the phrase ‘man up’ will mean something quite different, like being comfortable with your emotions and having the confidence to ask for help when you need it. 

References

1. Burki T (2020). The indirect impact of COVID-19 on women. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 20(8): 904-905.

2. Williamson EJ, Walker AJ, Bhaskaran K et al (2020). Factors associated with COVID-19-related death using OpenSAFELY. Nature, 584: 430–436.

3. Bambra C, Munford L et al (2020). COVID-19 and the Northern Powerhouse, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Northern Health Science Alliance. https://www.thenhsa.co.uk/app/uploads/2020/11/NP-COVID-REPORT-101120-.pdf.

4. Dearden L (2020). Coronavirus: Mental health incidents rising during UK lockdown, police say. The Independent, 6 April 2020. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-suicide-rates-ukmental-health-support-a9451086.html.

4. WHO (2014). Preventing suicide: A global imperative. Geneva: World Health Organization.

5. Marcos-Marcos J, Mateos JT, Gasch-Gallén À, Álvarez-Dardet C (2019). Men’s health across the life course: A gender relational (critical) overview. Journal of Gender Studies, epub ahead of print 18 December 2019.

6. Witty K, White A (2011) Tackling men's health: Implementation of a male health service in a rugby stadium setting. Community Practitioner, 84(4): 29-32.

7. Gray CM, Wyke S, Zhang R, et al. (2018) Long-term weight loss following a randomised controlled trial of a weight management programme for men delivered through professional football clubs: The Football Fans in Training follow-up study. Public Health Research, 6(9): 1-14.