Opinion: Gender gap should not be the norm

​It is shocking that 13 men take their own lives every day, that one man dies of prostate cancer every 45 minutes, that nearly 6,000 men die of an alcohol-related death every year, and that two thirds of men are overweight or obese.

It is about time that there is a new strategy to improve men’s health.

There are of course many factors that contribute to men’s health, they are more likely to smoke, more likely to drink excessively and more likely to have a poor diet.

Middle-aged men are in fact twice as likely to have diabetes – and twice as likely not to know they even have it.

Four in five suicides are men and suicide is the biggest cause of death for men under 35.

There has also been a recent sharp increase in the rate of suicides among men aged 35-64.

It’s even more shocking that although men make up around 80% of suicides they only make up around 34% of those referred for specialist therapy, again we must try to understand why this is?

Perhaps men are not getting referred as much or perhaps they just struggle come forward and ask for help, either way the first part of solving a problem is recognising there is one.

There is clearly a need for a men’s health strategy, this could simply be through education and support around healthy lifestyles and mental health.

I want everyone to have a long life and for those lives to be lived in a state of wellbeing. I am sure that nobody in the country would disagree with that.

More than two in five men will die before the age of 75. Death rates amongst men in the poorest areas of the country are even worse.

Men are still more likely to die of circulatory disease and cancer and 75% of premature deaths from coronary heart disease are male.

They also have a 37% higher risk of dying from cancer and a 67% higher chance of dying from cancers that affect both men and women.

There needs to be a long term approach to tackle rising concerns of cancer and cardiovascular disease deaths in men and a clearer understanding why men are dying disproportionately.

I have been to see charities locally and nationally such as Andy’s Mans Club that attempts to tackle some of these issues, and I will continue to call for a new approach to men’s physical and mental health.

A fresh new innovative approach to men’s health will benefit everyone.

It is not just positive for men but women too. Friends, fathers, brothers, uncles and cousins are all effected and we should not just accept a gender age gap as a norm in society.