MHW 2006 breaks the registration record

A record number of registrations were received for this year's Men's Health Week, according to the Forum's evaluation of this year's events. The 2341 registrations represents a 25% rise on the number of registrations in 2006 and even beats the previous record of 2044 in 2004.

With registration opening today for next year's Week (11-17 June 2007), the Forum is now targeting the 2,500 mark. Men's Health Week 2007 will be all dedicated to men and long-term medical conditions. Help us by registering now.

Commenting on the many local events last June, Men's Health Week coordinator Matt Maycock said: 'Once more, the innovation that comes across from those who undertook activity, is very striking. Many different approaches were taken, in an extremely broad range of settings and there is clearly some excellent work being done at a local level during the week.

'It is important that the MHF acknowledges, encourages and supports this as much as possible. This questionnaire seems to indicate that the MHF has been quite successful in doing this in 2006 however further efforts will need to be made to further increase the proportion of people who register and then undertake some form of activity.'

The increase in the number of registrations suggests that health professionals are increasingly engaged and committed to Men's Health Week reflecting the importance of men's health in general and of men's mental health — the theme for 2006 — in particular.

The production of a mini-manual — a smaller A5 version of the Haynes Brain manual — was particularly welcome as they provided an affordable resource to support local activity. Mini-manuals are going to be even more central to Men's Health Week 2007.

Matt thanked all those who had completed the online evaluation survey of the week. 'The completed surveys constitute a very important resource for the MHF for planning future weeks. The evaluation process has highlighted problems associated with the resourcing and funding and with increasing the proportion of people who register for the Week and undertake activity.'

Men's Health week is growing and evolving. 'The MHF will seek to increase the number of registrants and therefore the impact of the week in 2007,' promised Matt. The theme for 2007 - Long-Term Medical Conditions - should provide even broader appeal than previous themes.

'We have a number of partners confirmed already and are speaking to many potential ones at the moment,' said Matt. 'If your organisation would be interested in finding out about partnership, please contact me (using the feedback box below). We will be producing mini manuals on various long-term conditions to distribute during the week. We are also planning another national conference on men and long-term conditions during the week.'