This week, the Government has launched a bold new plan to tackle physical and mental health challenges faced by men and boys, and reduce inequalities.
- Landmark strategy published on International Men’s Day aims to tackle men’s mental health challenges, improve physical health and reduce inequalities so men and boys get on and live longer, healthier lives
- As part of the strategy, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) will team up on the Premier League’s Together Against Suicide initiative and smash the stigma around mental health
- Men with prostate cancer will also benefit from improved care through the strategy, alongside £3.6 million investment in suicide prevention projects targeting middle-aged men
This national strategy will see men and boys within Portsmouth benefitting from tailored healthcare and support as the government launches its first Men’s Health Strategy.
Launched on International Men’s Day, the bold plan sets out comprehensive action to tackle the physical and mental health challenges men and boys face every day.
Men can be less likely to seek help and more likely to suffer in silence. This, combined with a higher propensity to smoke, drink, gamble and use drugs, means men’s health is suffering, having a significant impact on families, workplaces and communities. This strategy will help give men and boys to get on and live longer, healthier lives.
Suicide is one of the biggest killers of men under 50 and three-quarters of all suicides are men. That’s why the government is investing £3.6 million over the next 3 years in suicide prevention projects for middle-aged men in local communities across areas of England where men are at most risk of taking their own lives, including some of the most deprived areas in the country.
This comes on top of expanding mental health teams in schools to ensure an additional 900,000 pupils have access to support by April 2026.
The projects will break down barriers that middle-aged men face in seeking support, such as the stigma associated with seeking help and a lack of awareness of what is available and how to access it. Projects will be co-designed with experts and men with lived experience of mental health crises and suicidal thoughts.
The focus on suicide prevention includes a partnership on the Premier League’s Together Against Suicide initiative with the Samaritans, which looks to help tackle the stigma around men’s mental health and embed health messaging into the matchday experience.
Commenting, Stephen Morgan MP for Portsmouth South said:
“Men across Portsmouth face many barriers to accessing healthcare services that have prevented them from getting vital support or treatment throughout their lives.”
“Not only have men admitted to not seeking healthcare services due to gendered social stigmas, but they have also reported that there are services which not responsive to men’s needs.
“I want men in Portsmouth, and across the country, to be able to overcome all barriers and bring an end to there being too many cases of preventable deaths.
“This Government’s Men’s Health Strategy will address the challenges men face and designing solutions with men, for men to put their health front and centre.”
Commenting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting said:
“For too long, men’s health has been overlooked. There has been a reluctance to accept that men suffer specific inequalities and hardships. The fact is that life can be really difficult for men in today’s society.
“This strategy marks a turning point – the first time we’re taking comprehensive, co-ordinated action to address the health challenges facing men and boys.
“Teaming up with the Premier League will harness the power of football to break down barriers and reach millions of men who might never walk through a GP’s door.
“We know men are less likely to come forward for healthcare. From partnering with the premier league to rolling out health support in the workplace – we’re meeting men where they are and giving them the support they need to live longer, healthier lives.”
Men with prostate cancer will also benefit from improved care through the strategy, including the development of home prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing for those being monitored for the disease.
From 2027, subject to clinical approval, men diagnosed with prostate cancer that is being actively monitored or treated will be able to order and complete PSA blood tests at home, or book an in-person blood test locally through the NHS App.
Other commitments in the Men’s Health Strategy include:
- Investing £3 million into community-based men’s health programmes, designed to reach those most at risk and least likely to engage with traditional services
- Men’s health training for healthcare professionals through new e-learning modules and resources
- Workplace health pilots with EDF Energy through the Keep Britain Working Vanguard Programme to support male workers in male-dominated industries
- Enhanced lung disease support for former miners, with increased investment in the Respiratory Pathways Transformation Fund in areas with significant former mining communities
- Funding research to help prevent, diagnose, treat and manage the major male killers and causes of unhealthy life years in men
- A £200,000 trial of new brief interventions to target the rise in cocaine and alcohol-related cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths, particularly among older men
The Men’s Health Strategy supports the government’s ambition to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions, while increasing it for everyone.
It tackles unhealthy behaviours, loneliness and social isolation, and harmful societal norms that prevent men seeking help, focusing on places that men frequent such as workplaces and sports clubs to drive change.
