It’s Not Rocket Science: The Case from Ireland for a Policy Focus on Men’s Health

Abstract

Historically, men, as a population group, have been conspicuous by their absence at a global and national health policy level. Moreover, most gender-focused health policy initiatives and gender-mainstreaming approaches to health have tended to be synonymous with women’s health. This places Ireland’s National Men’s Health Policy (NMHP) and recent external 5-year review in the collector’s item category within the wider health policy landscape.
 
 This paper will review the impetus and background to men’s health policy development in Ireland against a backdrop of the invisibility of men more generally from health policy. Reflecting on the key milestones and challenges associated with transitioning from policy development to implementation, the paper will seek to inform a wider public health debate on the case for targeting men as a specific population group for the strategic planning of health. The case for a NMHP on the grounds of a gender inequity will also be explored in the context of contributing more broadly to gender equality. There will be a particular focus on exploring how strategies associated with governance and accountability, advocacy, research and evaluation, partnerships and capacity-building, have acted as a catalyst and framework for action in the rollout of a broad range of men’s health initiatives. With the central challenge being the translation of cross-departmental and inter-sectoral recommendations into sustainable actions, the role of NMHP in applying a gender lens to other policy areas will also be discussed.
 
 Ireland’s NMHP has raised the visibility of men’s health in Ireland; the lessons learned during its implementation provide a strong rationale and blueprint for NMHP development elsewhere.

Men’s Mental Health Services: The Case for a Masculinities Model

“…While this framework has been previously proposed in response to a broader men’s health crisis, it received limited uptake and as discussed above, due to socialized clinical conceptions of masculinity, may hold specific utility when considering men’s mental health. Irish policy makers argued that a relational framework allowed service providers to recognize diverse patterns among men, which are constituted through the dynamic, and often abrasive, intersections between gender and other social structures such as ethnicity, social class, and sexuality (Richardson & Carroll, 2008). Irish policy makers also expressed concerns about pitting the health needs of men against those of women, instead positioning men’s health as part of an overall agenda of gender equality.…”

Study protocol: evaluation of sheds for life (SFL): a community-based men’s health initiative designed “for shedders by shedders” in Irish Men’s sheds using a hybrid effectiveness-implementation design

“…An important backdrop to SFL is the rich landscape within its outer setting of men’s health research and practice work that has emerged within Ireland in recent years [ 14 , 64 ]. While SFL evolved mostly as a bottom-up initiative to address a particular need, it was also mandated by a top-down men’s health policy directive [ 16 ].…”

Quebec’s Model for Men’s Health: Connecting Community, Research, Practice, and Policies

“…Consequently, the main outcomes from these policies were an increase in the visibility of men's health and a more prominent place of the subject in the public discourse. 6 Internationally, Ireland was the first state in 2008 to implement a national policy on MHW. 4 Richardson and Carroll 6 argue that even with limited funding due to an economic recession in Ireland, the National Men's Health Plan prompted a significant response in areas such as capacity building, partnership development, research, advocacy, governance, and accountability.…”

“…Their actions were mainly rooted in a broad range of men's health work across a number of different sectors and in increasing social attention to men's ill health. 6 Brazil and Australia followed in 2009 and 2010, respectively, with both social recognition of the issue among the population and a growing body of research about MHW. 5 In Brazil, their National Policy of Comprehensive Healthcare to Men (PNAISH) has been implemented across the country, but the government's focus with this policy has mainly been on risk prevention related to sexually transmitted infections.…”