EU reminded not to forget men's health

The European Men's Health Forum (EMHF) has called on the Austrian Presidency of the European Union not to neglect men's health issues.

The plea comes from John Bowis, a member of the EMHF's central committee. The Conservative MEP for London, he has also tabled an amendment to the EU health strategy explicitly calling on the EU to aim to promote equality between men and women in all community activities including health protection.

Noting that Austria has signalled its priorities for the next six months as women's heart disease, osteoporosis and endometriosis, as well as diabetes, Bowis writes in an editorial for the EMHF website: 'All that is very welcome so long as the important priorities for men's health are not neglected'.

Bowis, who was recently named MEP of the Year for Health, goes on: 'Gender mainstreaming is one of those buzz-words, or buzz-phrases, that is all the rage among European policy makers and most of them have not the faintest idea of what it means. Gender issues in health are often assumed to be women's issues and so the gender agenda is taken over by the women's agenda.'

The editorial also welcomes the EMHF's Vienna Declaration on Men's Health, published in October, and concludes: 'Austria and Europe as a whole have an opportunity and a duty to press for gender, male and female, to have its place in the planning of healthcare and health services for the future.'