Men's health gets its first professor

By Jane Elliott
BBC News health reporter

Men often worry, but do not go for help

There are many professors in the UK's universities. But there is only one professor of men's health.

Alan White had focused on the health needs of men for many years.

So when Leeds Metropolitan University offered its staff the chance to propose new professorships, he jumped at the chance.

"I designed it myself. If I'd waited for someone to come and say it's a good idea, I would have waited a long time."

Cancers

Professor White, who is also chairman of the Men's Health Forum, says men's health is getting more attention.

But he said men still tend to die younger than women, and those from affluent sections of society are estimated to live more than a decade more than those from the poorest.

Clinics are being set up in barbers shops, in bars, in factories, events are being staged at fishing conferences, football grounds, dad's and lad's weekends Professor Alan White

Professor White said special measures were needed to address the health issues men face, such as testicular and prostate cancers, coronary heart disease and suicide risk.

He believes part of the problem was that men do not use the health service in such a "sophisticated" way as women.

Professor White said that - because women's bodies change much more frequently through puberty, pregnancy and the menopause - they need to visit their GP more.

He said health experts should not be afraid of using the gender bias to promote better health for both sexes.

"Why are we so blind that we cannot recognise that difference exists and that we need to target it? I am arguing for gender."

He said an example of how services need to be designed differently for men and women was the way in which the genders viewed weight issues.

"Young women who are a normal weight may see themselves as overweight.

"But young men of a normal weight may see themselves as too thin. There is societal pressure on men to be big.

"So one person is trying to be thinner and the other larger. One policy won't work for them both."

Professor White said men needed to be educated to look after their own health from an early age.

He called schools to look at ways of teaching boys about their health needs.

"How can we extend our curriculum at schools so that boys get useful life skills and the tools to be able to manage their health when surrounded by peer pressure and such a powerful socialisation process?

"At the same time, boys are boys and young men are young men, and the pressures on men to conform to outside guidance is often outweighed by a deeper instinct to find their own way."

Longevity

He said men needed to be encouraged to attend for health checks rather than waiting until they are ill to go to their doctor.

And he said that health advice should be targeted to the specific illnesses that affect men and aimed specifically at the 'at-risk' age groups, rather than targeting all men in the same way.

"We need to be more imaginative about how we get health care to men and if there are difficulties for men accessing their health services.

"If you can't get there when you are ill how can you get there when you are well? How can you persuade men to take a day off work?"

He said some groups were beginning to specifically target men and that this was paying dividends but that more needed to be done before men's health can start to achieve parity with women's.

"Clinics are being set up in barbers shops, in bars, in factories, events are being staged at fishing conferences, football grounds, dad's and lad's weekends."