Editorial: Growing men's health: Broadening the conceptual and practical agenda

Abstract

It still surprises those of us working on men's issues that it has taken so long to realise - and that there is so little real grassroots support and advocacy for - men's health as a legitimate domain in public health. The men's movement - such as it is (see Connell 2005/1995) - goes back to the late 1970s; the gay men's movement started earlier and the gay men's health movement has been better organised and articulated since then (if one understands and concedes the central place that HIV/AIDS has taken during the last 28 years). What men's health will become, what it will include, redefine and incorporate in the next ten years is interesting to consider. In May 2010, the Australian Government launched a long-awaited national men's health strategy, entitled (somewhat tweely) the 'National Male Health Strategy: Building on the Strengths of Australian Males' (Commonwealth of Australia 2010). It was long awaited because work had first started well over 15 years ago during the Keating Labor Party administration under its then Federal Health Minister Dr Carmen Lawrence. What remains of that initiative emerged in 1998 - a document entitled 'Men's Health: A Research Agenda and Background Report' (Connell et al 1998). Then followed 11 years of frustration under the conservative government of John Howard during which little progress on a policy was made at a national level, although some State governments did move forward on the issue. The Howard years did yield some important initiatives: the establishment of Andrology Australia, a national centre of excellence focused on men's reproductive health, based at Monash University in Melbourne; and the establishment of MensLine Australia, a national telephone support line.