Men's Health Week was first marked in 1994, when President Clinton signed into law the "National Men's Health Week Act." The event's goal is to heighten the awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men and boys.Many men do not even have regular routine check-ups. In fact, men visit the doctor 150 million times less-frequently than women each year. Subsequently, men are:
- Less-knowledgeable than women about health and medical issues
- Less physically active during ages 35-54
- Less likely to use sunscreen and twice as likely to die of skin cancer
- Three times as likely than women to be alcoholics
- Suffer heart attacks 10 years earlier than women
- Five times more likely than women to commit suicide
- Nine times more likely then women to die as the result of a job related injury
- Die 7 years earlier then women
Prevention and early detection are keys to good health and high survival rates. Take, for example, prostate and testicular cancer survival rates. Testicular cancer has an 87% percent survival rate if detected early. To help men learn more about their health and medical issues, Men's Health Week has developed an online Healthline where you can access information on the following subjects:
- Men's Health and Mortality
- Prostate Cancer
- Prostate Cancer Awareness Efforts
- Prostate issues
- Testicular Cancer
- Minority Men's Health
- Cardiovascular Disease in Men
- Erectile Dysfunction (Impotence)
- Diabetes
- Domestic Violence
- Divorce
- Custody
