Malaysia Underlines National Men's Health Action Plan

PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), Nov 16 (Bernama) -- Malaysia becomes the fourth country after Brazil, Ireland and Australia to underline the importance of the National Men's Health Action Plan aimed at ensuring fairness and equality in health service. Malaysian Health Minister Dr S.Subramaniam said the action plan involved a collaboration between the ministry and government agencies and non-governmental organisations involved in men's health. "The Health Ministry views seriously the men's health gap as survey findings and existing information showed that men's health problems have been rampant in this era." He said this in his speech when opening the ministry-level Men's Health Day celebration here today. His speech text was read by Medical Development Division director Dr Azman Abu Bakar. Dr Subramaniam said men in Malaysia were exposed to numerous risks of health issues and illnesses, including having shorter life expectancy at 72.6 years compared to 77.2 years for women. Men's pre-mature death at the age of 15-65 is also two-fold higher than in women, the minister said. Among the factors contributing to the situation were chronic diseases, such as heart ailment, stroke and road accidents, he explained. He said gender and socio-cultural aspect which emphasised on men's masculinity had also affected their behaviour in seeking health advice. Based on this development, he said there was a need to improve the quality of men's health in Malaysia in a bid to produce a physically, mentally and socially healthy generation. Dr Subramaniam said apart from formulating the action plan, other strategies would be by creating a Malaysian Clearing House for Men's Health portal offering statistics on men's health, healthcare, support groups, publication of research findings and clinical guidelines on men's health. Data analysis from the portal could also help the ministry in formulating a national policy related to men's health, he said, adding that Nov 19 had been declared World Men's Day celebration. (photoBERNAMA) --BERNAMA