Councillors Taking A ‘Mo’ To Raise Awareness Of Men’s Health Issues
Two Bridgend County Borough Councillors are among the local men ditching their razors this month to raise awareness of men’s health issues.
Newcastle ward member, Councillor David White, and Councillor David Owen, who represents Nantymoel, are both growing moustaches to take part in the annual ‘Movember’ campaign.
They’ll start the month with a clean shave, and then they’ll let it grow.
Councillor Owen said: “There aren’t enough men who are comfortable talking about their own personal health and the more open we are, the better. The worse thing we can do is hide behind this macho image that some men have of themselves.”
Councillor White added: “Getting involved in Movember is a light-hearted way of raising awareness of serious health issues such as depression and male cancer. Too many men are dying too young. But in most cases an early diagnosis in cancer can save lives, while early diagnosis of dementia can help you get the right treatments and support, so it is vitally important that we all feel able to talk openly about our health.”
Movember started in Melbourne, Australia in 2003 when two mates met up for a quiet beer, having encouraged 30 of their friends to grow a moustache. Since then, the Movember movement has grown like a fine handlebar ‘tache, with more than five million people across the world taking part last year.
There are a lot of statistics to support the argument that we need to prioritise men’s health more…
• On average, men die four years younger than women in the UK.
• One in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year.
• 78% of suicides in the UK are men. On average, 13 men take their life each day in the UK.
• More than 10,500 men with prostate cancer will die in the UK in 2017.
• Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men aged 25-49 years.
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