Men missing out on health

The New Conservative Party is demanding the government establish a Ministry for Men because of discrepancies in health spending between genders.

Leader Leighton Baker quoted the NZ Medical Journal, October 6, 2017, as stating: “For heart disease, stroke, and to a lesser degree of modifiable lifestyle change cancer, studies of women’s health outnumber men’s health by two to one… A further search was made of Health Research Council funding since 2010… to identify sex-specific funding. The search revealed that for every $1 spent exclusively on women’s health research, men’s health research received $0.06.”

“Men are over-represented in so many negative statistics, including prison population, suicides, homelessness, addictions, yet research into men’s health only receives 6 per cent of women’s health research funding,” Mr Baker said. “We are challenging the government to allocate funding from the $1.9 billion for mental health to specifically address men’s mental health requirements, and in particular men’s coping mechanisms for dealing with the challenges of 21st century living.

“The cost to New Zealand of not dealing with men’s mental health is huge, as it affects crime, fatherless homes, productivity, physical health, suicide and more.”

“The issues facing men have been ignored, and balanced representation is long overdue,” Mr Baker said. “A dedicated Ministry for Men will benefit communities by addressing so many issues that are being faced by men, including shortcomings in the Family Court system that has consistently undervalued the value of a father in the family unit.