The Coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic is having a major impact upon men.  While there is a broadly similar incidence and prevalence rate to women, men: are faster at developing serious illness; recover slower from the virus; have a higher death rate.  There is also a broad range of mental health and social impacts upon men and the wider community which are a cause for concern.  To shine some light on this situation, the Engage National Men’s Health Training Programme invited Alan White, Emeritus Professor of Men’s Health, to present his insights into why this might be so via a one hour online webinar.  This took place on Wednesday 13th May 2020.  Alan gave a presentation on the current evidence, and there was an opportunity for the audience to ask questions afterwards.  You can access a video recording of the webinar and a copy of Alan's slides at: www.mhfi.org/coronavirus.html

MensHealth.ie is a new online GP service just for men.  It is the first of its kind in Ireland focusing solely on men’s health matters.  The aim of the service is to eliminate that first and highest hurdle of getting men to the doctor, by bringing the doctor to them.  Founder, Dr Gavin Keane, came up with the idea after the COVID-19 pandemic completely changed how GPs were working: ‘No one was coming in.  The vast majority of our work was suddenly being done on the phone and then on video.  It struck me just how much of our routine work can be done safely and done well online.  That realisation, combined with my experience of men being reluctant to come into the clinic in person, led to the idea to start an online GP service for men.  The COVID pandemic has presented the opportunity to create this service and, hopefully, reach a lot more men that don’t, won’t, or can’t attend a GP’.  Visit https://menshealth.ie to find out more.

To celebrate Men’s Health Week 2020, ARC Cancer Support Centres will be offering a week of free online activities ranging from cookery demonstrations, to ‘Man Talk’, to strength training, to resilience building, to comedy!  Find out more at: https://a.storyblok.com/f/58810/x/15d316a5dd/june-2020.pdf

During Men’s Health Week 2020, the Carer Support Team in the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust area will be offering two online events (via Zoom) to male carers in their catchment area: (i) a Cookery Session for male carers - titled ‘Man Made Meals' - on Tuesday 16th June, from 11.30am - 1.00pm (all ingredients will be delivered to participants before the session); and (ii) a male carer’s Pamper Session on Thursday 18th June from 6.00pm - 7.00pm (a Man’s Calm Pamper Goodie Bag will be delivered to each participant before this session).  Booking for both events is through Carer Support by Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Tel: 02843 721807.

To mark Men’s Health Week 2020, you are invited to join the online (via Zoom) ‘YOGUYS’ sessions from Monday 15th - Friday 19th June 2020, at 7.00am - 8.00am each day.  The sessions are being run by ‘CYP - Conscious Yoga and Psychotherapy’ and will focus upon ‘Restoring the Balance’ via a Vinyasa Yoga course for men who are feeling stiff, inflexible, and perhaps a bit stressed - hence restoring a balance in mind and body.  The cost is £20 for the five classes.  To find out more contact Annalisa at Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | Tel: +44 796 4296007.

The most recent edition of the ‘The International Journal of Men’s Social and Community Health’, contains an article on ‘Connecting with Young Men: The Impact of Training in Ireland’.  ‘Connecting with Young Men’ is Unit 6 within ENGAGE - Ireland’s National Men’s Health Training programme.  This was developed to support service providers to engage young in mental health and related services.  This study evaluated the impact of Unit 6 on front line service providers’ knowledge, skills, capacity, and practice.  You can view the article at: https://ijmsch.com/index.php/IJMSCH/article/view/26/19

Powering Health has been working with South Dublin Libraries on a 'Ways to Wellness' project which will run for the month of June 2020.  Each week, a short video is released which focuses on the overarching theme of healthier social media usage.  These clips are available on the South Dublin Libraries Facebook page.  You can also view the first two clips on Vimeo, which focus upon 'Healthy Social Media' and 'Good Sleep for Good Health'.  Given these times of so much online activity, this is certainly a much needed resource.

This annual publication presents a comprehensive analysis of health inequality gaps between the most and least deprived areas of Northern Ireland, and within Health and Social Care Trust and Local Government District areas.  The report is accompanied by downloadable data tables which contain all figures - including District Electoral Areas as well as urban and rural breakdowns.  Find out more at: www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/health-inequalities-annual-report-2020