My role
My role
Annual check-ups for men, specialist men's health nurses and improved funding — these are just three of the recommendations of Australia's Senate Select Committee on Men's Health.
As part of the process of developing a men's health policy for the country, the committee, chaired by senator Cory Bernardi, right, has just released a detailed report making 13 specific recommendations.
'Australian men are long-lived by world standards,' the Committee said, 'but their health status exhibits distinct differences from that of Australian women and is, by most measures, worse. Indigenous men exhibit the worst health outcomes of all groups in Australian society.'
The recommendations in brief are:
The Australian government — known as the commonwealth government to distinguish it from the individual governments of the country's states - announced that it would introduce a men's health policy back on 8 June 2008. A programme of consultation is currently underway throughout the country and it is expected that the policy will be completed by the end of this year.
MHF CEO Peter Baker said: 'It is marvelous to see the need for much greater investment in men's health work recognised at such a high level in Australia. It is a testament to the grassroots and campaigning work on the issue that has been going on for many years now in that country. We will be studying this report very carefully to see what we can learn from it in terms of increasing political awareness of the issues in England and Wales as well as practical ideas for action.'
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