The EU's first ever report into the state of men's health across the union kicked off with two meetings in Brussels last month.
The meetings were called by the Centre for Men’s Health at Leeds Metropolitan University in England w2hich is carrying out the research for the EU and brought together participants from across the continent of Europe. As well as the European Men's Health Forum, these included: Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (Portugal), University of Debrecen (Hungary), University of Sussex (UK), Copenhagen University Hospital (Denmark), International Society for Men's Health, Dept of Health and Children (Ireland), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (UK), Maastricht University (The Netherlands), University of Girona (Spain), Basel University (Switzerland), Dissens e.v. (Germany), Austrian Road Safety Board (Austria) and Work Research Centre (Ireland).
This report will cover the 27 countries of the EU, the 4 EFTA countries and the 3 candidate countries. There are four teams involved: a management advisory group, a writing group, a reviewing group and a wider reference group.
Professor Alan White, who is heading up the project said: 'This is a great opportunity to make clear to the European Commission and all nations involved the health challenges men face. This will be the foundation stone for activity for years to come.
'There has been a gradual build up to this point, with the EMHF report in 2003, the men and equality conference during the Finnish Presidency and the Men and Health conference as part of the Portuguese Presidency in 2007.'
The report is due to be completed by the end of the year with a launch of the report in Spring 2011.
