Men, health and intellectual disability : the current status

Men’s health has been an emerging topic internationally over the last twenty years, reflected by the recent advent of men’s health magazines and journals, men’s movements and the more recent formation of bodies such as the Men’s Health Forum (UK), and the NSW (Australia) Men’s Health Information and Resource Centre (MHIRC). The growing body of statistical and epidemiological data paints a grim picture of a sex whose life expectancy is lower, has higher death rates at all ages, has higher rates of cancer and cardiovascular disease, successful suicide at higher rates, experience greater rates of accidents and injuries, and who use health services at a lower rate than the opposite sex (Schofield et al. 2000; Kakakios, 2001). In contrast the women’s health movement is significantly more sophisticated, and has grown as a result of decades-long feminist research and lobbying that has led to established and successful health promotion strategies; the recurrent funding of women’s health centres; and the medical and social recognition of women’s health as a valid and separate health concern.