Better Health Strategies for Men

Letters to the Editor regarding the article Men’s Access to Outpatient Psychosocial Cancer Counseling A Cluster-Randomized Trial by Prof. Dr. rer. med. Susanne Singer, Dipl.-Psych., M.Sc.; PD Dr. phil. Alexander Wünsch, Dipl.-Psych., MME; PD Dr. sc. hum. Andreas Ihrig, Dipl.-Psych.; Gudrun Bruns, Dipl.-Soz.-Päd.; Franziska Holz, Johannes Jakob, Dipl.-Päd.; Markus Besseler, Deborah Engesser, M.Sc.-Epidem.; Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Maria Blettner, Dr. sc. hum. Jochem König, and Oliver Bayer, M.Sc.-Epidem. in issue 4/2024

The article’s abstract starts with this sentence: “Men make use of outpatient cancer counseling less commonly than women, even when they stand to benefit from it.” It ends with the conclusion: “The targeted implementation of male-specific measures on multiple levels can increase, by a small amount, the percentage of men among persons seeking outpatient cancer counseling.”

How can the percentage of men be increased, not only in psychosocial cancer counseling, but also in cancer screenings, health checks, and in GP consultations?

The example of “1000 Mutige Männer für Mönchengladbach” (1000 Brave Men for Mönchengladbach) mentioned in the article (1) confirms that a complex local, sex-specific advertising campaign helped increase men’s participation in bowel cancer screening by 7%. But this is only a single example. Countries such as Australia and Canada have the great advantage of having men’s health strategies. It would have been beneficial to mention Ireland, where three men’s health strategies have been sequentially implemented to date (2008–2013—National Men’s Health Policy; 2017–2021—Healthy Ireland Men; 2023–2027—Men’s Health Action Plan). Ireland has been successful in increasing men’s and women’s life expectancy in the past two decades substantially compared with the EU average and has overtaken Germany (2, 3).

A crucial health target of the UN up to 2030 consists of reducing premature mortality as a result on non-communicable diseases up to the 75th year of life by one third, by deploying prevention and treatment. Germany will in all probability not reach this target. What is lacking is a strategy for men’s health, which was reiterated in a Men’s Health Manifesto in 2021 (4).

The hurdles for psychosocial cancer counseling are particularly high for men. A better integration/inclusion of men in prevention, demand for GP consultations, and continuing measures in health protection/preservation requires a sex-specific concept, such as was tested in Mönchengladbach as early as 2010.

DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.m2024.0084

Prof. Dr. sc. med. Doris Bardehle

Stiftung Männergesundheit, Berlin

Conflict of interest statement

The author declares that no conflict of interest exists.

References

1. Singer S, Wünsch A, Ihrig A, et al.: Men’s access to outpatient psychosocial cancer counseling—a cluster-randomized trial. Dtsch Arztebl Int 2024; 121: 121–7

2. Bardehle D: Männergesundheit in Deutschland. Warum sollten wir in diesem Bereich mehr tun? URO-NEWS 2023; 27: 10–7

3. Government of Ireland. Healthy Ireland Strategic Action Plan 2021–2025. https://go.sn.pub/K06gNA (last accessed on 28 May 2024).

4. Bundesforum Männer, Netzwerk Jungen- und Männergesundheit, Stiftung Männergesundheit: Deutschland braucht eine Männergesundheitsstrategie. 2021. https://www.stiftung-maennergesundheit.de (last accessed on 28 May 2024).