MHF at Strategic Partnership meeting in the eastern region

The presentations from the Community and Voluntary Forum: Eastern Region (COVER) Men's Health Event organised as part of the Department of Health strategic partnership with the third sector are now on the COVER website.

The presentations are from the well-received conference on ‘Promoting Men’s Health’ held by COVER in collaboration with the Men’s Health Forum and Regional Voices. The event took place on 20 April at the Imperial War museum in Duxford which meant delegates were surrounded by grounded planes - ironic given the 'no fly' status of European airspace at the time. Luckily, all speakers and delegates were UK based so the volcanic ash didn’t disrupt proceedings.

The conference formed part of the programme of work that the MHF is carrying out as a strategic partner of the Department of Health.

MHF CEO Peter Baker told delegates: ‘Men still experience very poor health, and the third sector has a key role to play in addressing these health inequalities’

Delegates, the majority of whom came from local voluntary and community organisations, also heard from Barry Mussenden from the Department of Health who gave an overview of the national picture and Karen Livingstone from the Eastern SHA who outlined current work on men’s health in the region. The day included lots of lively discussion and stimulating debate, as well as the sharing of good practice.

Workshops later in the day focused on a range of practical issues relating to men’s health.

• Mariam Kemple from Mind focused on the mental health of men. Find out more about the work that the Men’s Health Forum are doing in this area here.
• Sarah Toule from the Prostate Cancer Charity spoke about the challenges of working with men in the area of prostate cancer and effective ways of communicating health messages, to promote positive health behaviours.
• Roger Jones from Age UK ran a workshop on the topic of working and engaging men over the age of 50 in health.
• Colin Avery and Steven Turner from Oldham PCT focused on the issue of promoting men’s health through sport, drawing on their experiences of organising projects in this area.
• In the afternoon delegates heard from Monica Golding from the Football Foundation and Kathryn Dunn from Everton FC about engaging men in health through sporting initiatives such as Premier League Health. They emphasised the benefits of outreach work based around sporting activities such as football matches. They gave a number of examples of successful initiatives such as a programme at Stoke City FC to encourage men to engage in health checks on match day at the football grounds.

Aine Duggan, who leads the strategic partnership work for the MHF said: 'Overall the conference offered an excellent opportunity for networking and the sharing of good practice. We look forward to being involved in similar events in the future.'

• All presentations are available on the Cover website.