{jcomments off}It is important to keep a regular check on your own health statistics and to know your ‘health numbers’.  This day offers an opportunity to avail of free checks and advice without having to make an appointment.  Drop-in to the Maureen Sheehan Centre, 106 Albert Street, Belfast BT12 4HL, on Tuesday 8th October 2013, from 1.00pm to 4.00pm, to benefit from a range of checks, therapies and advice including: height, weight, BMI, cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, age progression, carbon monoxide testing, nutrition, skin scanner, testicular awareness, spine age progression, allergy testing, complementary therapies ...  For more information, contact Clan Mor Sure Start on Tel: 02890 327755 or the HEART Project on Tel: 02890 310346.

{jcomments off}The Belfast Active Ageing Partnership is inviting older men (50 years +) and older men's groups to a day of fitness and fun.  This will take place on Friday 4th October 2013, from 11.00am - 2.00pm, in the Ozone Complex, Ormeau Embankment, Belfast.  Lunch and refreshments will be provided, and transport is available from designated pick-up points throughout the city for those with restricted mobility.  Activities will include: walking, rambling, bowling, indoor climbing, fitness circuits, health checks (e.g. cholesterol, blood pressure, allergy testing), and complementary therapies.  To find out more and to register, contact Pamela or Carol at Tel: 02890 232020.

{jcomments off}Man Matters has produced a series of six posters depicting a range of men’s issues.  This collection is titled 'Man on a Mission', and focuses upon getting healthy, getting active, learning, helping kids, getting involved and helping others.  The posters are available for online downloading as JPG images:

• Man on a Mission to get healthy
• Man on a Mission to get active
• Man on a Mission to get learning
• Man on a Mission to help his kids
• Man on a Mission to get involved
• Man on a Mission to help others

or in hard copy - by phoning Siobhán Harding at Belfast 02890 329718 / Emailing: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}The Western Health and Social Care Trust Health Improvement Department has produced a series of factsheets which focus upon men and cancer.  These look at prostate cancer (www.mhfi.org/WHSCTprostatecancer.pdf), testicular cancer (www.mhfi.org/WHSCTtesticularcancer.pdf), skin cancer (www.mhfi.org/WHSCTskincancer.pdf) and bowel cancer (www.mhfi.org/WHSCTbowelcancer.pdf).  These factsheets are clear, colourful, easy to read / understand, and can also be displayed as posters.  Therefore, they will be useful to anyone who works with men.

{jcomments off}Most men and women in their forties and fifties in Ireland do not know the fats of life!  This September, the Irish Heart Foundation's Heart Month campaign ‘The Fats of Life’ is all about fat and cholesterol.  Different fats in the food we eat affect the lipids, or fats, in our blood i.e. cholesterol.  In turn, having a healthy cholesterol is vital to preventing heart attack or stroke - still the leading causes of death in Ireland.  Only 18% of Irish adults have healthy cholesterol levels without the use of cholesterol-lowering medication.  If you would like to be added to the mailing list or to get more information on this campaign, contact Ellen McMeel at Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}Men Against Cancer (MAC) is a free self-referral clinic for males.  It is supported by local businessmen and run by Belfast City Hospital Uro-oncology clinical nurse specialists.  The clinic provides information on men’s health; in particular urological cancers for investigations and early diagnosis.  The service is designed to encourage men to take responsibility for their health by providing a relaxed and private environment where they can become better informed of health issues such as prostate and testicular cancer.  Clinics are held on Tuesdays, from 5.30pm - 7.30pm, in Urology Day Care, Level 3, Belfast City Hospital Tower Block.  Men who wish to attend can make an appointment by telephoning 02895 040786.  The details which need to be provided when scheduling an appointment are full name, address, date of birth and GP’s name.

{jcomments off}Following the event ‘Men, In/fertility and Assisted Reproductive Technologies’, hosted at De Montfort University in April 2012, a selection of papers presented at this event were published as a symposium collection in the September 2013 issue of Reproductive BioMedicine Online.  The guest editors for the symposium were Prof Lorraine Culley, Dr Nicky Hudson (De Montfort University) and Dr Maria Lohan (Queen’s University Belfast).

{jcomments off}In July 2010, blind adventure athlete Mark Pollock fell from a second story window.  He cracked his skull, his chest and torso filled with blood, and his back was broken in three places.  He had no feeling from the waist down.  For six months after the accident, Mark lay in hospital.  As his mind battled to accept reality and find positivity, his body was further hit with recurring infections.  Mark lost three stone and, with it, he almost lost the will to go on.  But he was not beaten.  Mark’s supporters created the Mark Pollock Trust and Run in the Dark to fund his ambition to walk again.  Now Mark is using his body for research - as he walks in Ekso robotic legs and follows an aggressive physical therapy programme.  You are invited to help raise money for the Mark Pollock Trust and Wings for Life - the global spinal injury research charity - by entering this year’s ‘Run in the Dark’.  This will take place on Wednesday 13th November 2013, at 7.30pm, in Dublin, Cork and Belfast.  There are both 5K and 10K runs on offer.  For more information, visit: www.runinthedark.org