EMHF president Dr Ian Banks delivered his inaugural lecture as Professor of Men’s Health at Leeds Metropolitan University last month. Rachel Jackson, the University Events Manager said: ‘The lecture described the activity that has been undertaken in getting the problems of men’s health recognised at national and European levels, including the thorny debate about the relationship between voluntary organisations and the pharmaceutical industry, and then gave a vision of where we need to be going over the next ten years to move the agenda on into its next phase.’
Professor Banks explained how working with large employers of men such as PostEurop, working with organisations that have a close affinity to men such as UEFA, and retaining pressure on both the professional bodies and government at all levels ‘has to be at the forefront of our activity’. But this has to be linked to informing the ‘man on the street’ about their health so he too can act to improve his chances. ‘To improve men’s health throughout Europe, it is necessary to develop gender-sensitive health policy and practice that meets the needs of men as well as women,’ Professor Banks concluded.
