One of Northern Ireland’s biggest cancer charities recently held its very first men’s health conference in Belfast and brought with it a rallying call to address issues relating to cancer and specifically the male population.

Sponsored by BT and open to healthcare professionals, carers, patients and policy makers, the Ulster Cancer Foundation’s Man Alive conference offered a varied programme featuring speakers from very different organisations.  All however spoke with the core objective of empowering patients, raising awareness about male cancers to promote early detection and understanding of symptoms and to develop initiatives to encourage information sharing and greater integration throughout the health service.

Chief executive Arlene Spiers commented; “This conference is an important move in raising awareness of male cancers which combine to present the biggest killers of men in Northern Ireland,” he said. “Men are more likely to believe that their risk of getting cancer is already high and that it is too late to change their behaviour. Traditionally men have been reluctant to discuss their health issues so our objective is to identify positive steps that local men can take to improve their health.
“Adopting a healthy lifestyle is crucial and although bowel, lung and skin cancer are most likely to affect men in Northern Ireland, some key lifestyle changes can dramatically reduce a man’s chance of developing such conditions. Elsewhere, prostate, bowel and testicular can be treated successfully if identified early on. We are hoping to bring these messages to a wider audience and believe that all healthcare professionals have a role to play in raising awareness.”

Owen Metcalfe from the Institute of Public Health in Ireland, which works across the north and south with the view to improve co-operation for public health. “Our priorities are health promotion and prevention of diseases and we are certain that community pharmacists in particular have a huge role to play within these areas,” he said. “Health promotion can save lives and combined with early detection and encouraging lifestyle changes can make all the difference.”

The Institute also works to improve health intelligence, building the capacity for providing healthcare in Ireland and consulting and advising on policy. “Health inequalities are high on our agenda and this includes genders,” Owen continued. “There is an inherent difference between males and females, with generally very different approaches to healthcare and the difference in life expectancy. Addressing such inequalities is more important than ever before.”

Gerry McElwee, head of cancer prevention at the UCF gave a presentation about observing men’s health and challenging men on their opinions of their own conditions. “Findings from general household surveys do suggest that men are less likely to report their health as good,” Gerry said. “More women visit community pharmacies or GPs than men and men have conceded that they feel embarrassed to go to their doctor. However, this urgently needs readdressed. There were 14,500 male fatalities in 2006 in Northern Ireland and 26 per cent of these were caused by cancer. While the number of cancer cases per annum is rising, the number of deaths is not necessarily increasing. Diet and tobacco each account for around a third of all cancer causes and although a change in habit can be a big step for the individual, such health promotion messages are vital and fortunately seem to be being heard.“