Forum nets prestigious £20k award

The Forum has been awarded a £20,000 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Impact Award jointly judged by GSK and The King's Fund health charity. The award was made in recognition of the organisation's work to give all men and boys an equal opportunity to attain the highest possible level of health and well-being.

Chief Executive Peter Baker said: 'We are delighted to have been chosen by GlaxoSmithKline as an IMPACT Award winner. To me this award recognises the valuable work done by our very dedicated team. The funding that this award brings will make an enormous difference. We could employ another member of staff for a year. There is a lot more research that we'd like to do and this could enable us to do it.'

Katie Pinnock, Director, UK Corporate Contributions, GlaxoSmithKline added: 'Our judges were extremely impressed by the work that the Men's Health Forum is doing. It's well known that men in general do not like going to see their doctor, and the MHF is doing a fantastic job of reaching these men to provide them with essential health information in a different way.'

Niall Dickson, Chief Executive of the Kings Fund commented: 'The MHF is working very hard to encourage more men to think about their health problems, and to actively do something about it. We need to maintain this element of 'openness', which the MHF is striving for, for the sake of the next generation.'

The annual GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards were created to reward small to medium sized charities that were doing excellent work to improve the health of their communities. Now in its ninth year, the scheme has given awards to 90 community healthcare charities in the UK with funding of over £1.65 million. This acknowledges the work of these charities with some of the most difficult and distressing social issues.

The 2006 GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards will be celebrated at an awards ceremony at The National Gallery on Tuesday 18 April, where all the ten winners will receive their £20,000 award. The overall winner will also be announced and collect a further £10,000.