COLOURFULWORLD: MOVEMBER - raising awareness of men´s health issues

Wednesday, 2 November 2011

MOVEMBER - raising awareness of men´s health issues

Movember - this is a movement that started in Melbourne, Australia and is now a global movement that inspires over 1 million Mo Bros and Mo sistas to participate in raising awareness to men´s health issues with Prostate cancer and depression, in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, the UK, Finland, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and South Africa.

The Movember movement tries to change habits and attitudes that men have about their health, educate them about the risks they face, increase their knowledge about the chances of early detection, diagnosis and treatments of prostate cancer and depression.
During November each year, men start to sprout moustaches around the world.

The appearance of a moustache on a usually clean shaven man prompts questions from those around them - "why the moustache?" So the Mo Bro, needs to justify the new look with an explanation about the challenges men face with their health, and key messages about prostate cancer and male depression.

Does Movember make a difference?
- Yes it does! Research confirms the campaign is working to raise awareness having a positive impact on making men think about their health.
In Australia the research reveals that:
- 90% of participants spent time thinking about improving their general health.
- 86% of participants visited a doctor in the last 12 months.
- 67% discussed men´s health with their family, friends or colleagues during Movember.
- 53% carried out personal research into men´s health issues.
- 50% cited prostate cancer as the first issue that comes to mind when thinking of men´s health.
- 89% understood that their health depends on how well they take care of themselves.

In 2010, over 130 thousand people in Australia got on board and raised $25million AUD, that supported the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and BeyondBlue (Depression).

My husband is participating at work, where all the men have joined.

Although such a movement wasn´t known when these pictures were taken, my husband has sported a moustache once in a while, but last year was the first time he joined Movember.