General Article Global health policy fails to address burden of disease on men

Topic Selected: Global Health
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Men experience a higher burden of disease and lower life expectancy than women, but policies focusing on the health needs of men are notably absent from the strategies of global health organisations, according to a Viewpoint article in this week’s Lancet.

 

The article reinterprets data from the Global Burden of Disease: 2010 study which shows that all of the top ten causes of premature death and disability, and the top ten behavioural risk factors driving rates of ill-health around the world, affect men more than they affect women.

‘Drinking alcohol and smoking are subject to social pressures which have resulted in men globally running three times the risk of ill-health from these behaviours compared to women... We recognise that women are disadvantaged in many societies and consider the advancement of women central to sustainable development, but this does not imply that the international community has no responsibility for men’s health too.’

Dr Sarah Hawkes, UCL Institute for Glo...

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