Movember Campaign To Grow A Moustache And Save Men’s Lives
Once agian this November, the CWU is highlighting the international campaign known as Movember in order to publicise the need for men to take their health seriously, and challenge the usual 'macho' attitude that 'real men' don't need to look after their health.
The international campaign to promote the growth of moustaches on men throughout November each year began in Australia in 2003 as a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of male cancers.
With Prostate cancer being one of the main killers of men world-wide, the organisers of the 1st Movember campaign, wanted to highlight the appalling figures in deaths among men from this form of cancer each year.
On average men die five to six years younger than women. The suicide rate is four times higher for men than women and more than five men die prematurely each hour from potentially preventable illnesses.
These are hard hitting facts; especially when you consider that there is no biological disadvantage that puts men at greater risk than women and according to recent research up to half of male cancer cases could be prevented by making healthy diet and lifestyle choices.
The reasons for the current state of men’s health are numerous and complex but it appears that the biggest issue is the way in which men think about their health; preventative health being something many men just don’t compute.
It is this issue that Movember’s Awareness and Education program is working hard to change. Awareness and education alters behaviour and mind-sets, it gradually breaks down barriers, removes stigmas and brings about real change.
Movember wants men to take responsibility for their health, prevent illness by leading a healthy lifestyle and understand the symptoms and signs in both themselves and others so they can appreciate when and how to seek help if needed.
Prostate Cancer Facts
• One man dies every hour of prostate cancer in the UK.
• Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK
• In the UK 37,000 men are diagnosed every year, this is the equivalent of 100 per day.
• 1 in 9 men will get prostate cancer in the UK
• 250,000 men are living with prostate cancer
• 10,000 men die every year from prostate cancer in the UK
Only men can get prostate cancer and the risk factors associated with it are:
• Ethnicity: African Caribbean men are three times more likely to develop prostate cancer.
• Family: you are 2.5 times more likely to develop prostate cancer if your father or brother has had
• Diet: if you have a diet rich in fat, dairy products and red meat, this may increase your risk of developing prostate cancer (and other health conditions).
• It is important that men of all ages are aware of their prostate and prostate cancer.
The above information is just a small snippet from the CWU letter to branches, LTB777/12, issued yesterday (15th October) in order to bring to member’s attention the need to publicise the campaign and encourage men to take their health more seriously.
Dave Joyce, CWU’s National Health, Safety & Environment Officer explains in detail about male cancers and the Movember campaign in the LTB:
Movember is an annual, international, month-long campaign, during November each year, highlighting men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer. The aim of which is to raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men.
Central to the campaign is a novel, fun-based approach whereby volunteer fund-raisers celebrate the moustache. The Movember Campaign starts on November 1st when clean shaven volunteers have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache. During Movember, each volunteer fund-raiser effectively becomes a walking billboard for "Men’s Health" and, via their Moustache, raises essential funds and raises awareness for Movember’s men’s health partners, The Prostate Cancer Charity and The Institute of Cancer Research by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health. At the end of Movember, a series of Gala events are held to thank volunteers for their support and fund raising efforts.
Movember has continued to grow each year, both in terms of participation numbers and funds raised. In its first year 30 volunteer fund-raisers known as "Mo-Bros" took part in Movember and last year, across the globe more than 447,000 people got on board, raising more than £48.6 million for the Movember's men's health charities globally.
To date, Movember has raised over £188 million globally for the fight against prostate cancer and depression in men. Movember raised £79 million globally during the 2011 campaign, an increase of £31 million over the prior year. The funds were raised by 855,000 "Mo Bros" and "Mo Sistas" located in the UK as well as Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Czech Republic, and Spain. In each country Movember partners with high quality men's health charities that share Movember's vision of having an everlasting impact on the face of men's health And, more importantly, as a direct result, male awareness of health issues has improved with Movember helping to spread health messages directly to millions of around the world.
Going forward, Movember will continue to work towards helping to change established habits and attitudes and make men aware of the risks they face, thereby increasing early detection, diagnosis and effective treatment.
Movember's tag line is 'changing the face of men's health' which articulately describes the challenge - volunteers change their appearance by growing a moustache for 30 days and the outcome - changing the understanding and attitudes men have towards their health.
The moustache is Movember's ribbon, it is the catalyst by which Movember intends to bring about real change through the awareness generated by the simple act of growing a Mo. The appearance of a moustache on a usually clean shaven man prompts questions from those around them.
Throughout the month of Movember they are constantly asked the question - why the moustache? Each volunteer (Mo-Bro) then needs to justify his new look with an explanation about the unique challenges men face with their health, and key messages about prostate and testicular cancer. The result is a highly effective and authentic word-of-mouth campaign.
Two CWU officials passionate about raising awareness and funds for men's health; specifically prostate and testicular cancer, are Davie Bowman CWU HQ, T&FS Assistant Secretary and Paul Moffat CWU Eastern Regional Secretary. Both men were heavilly involved in the awareness campaign, as reported by this website in 2011.
Further information can be found in the full LTB777/12 downloadable here
You can also go to the "MOVEMBER" Website and get involved here
The E-Library Database contains info on Prostate Cancer which can be found by selecting 'cancer' from the 'category' box.
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Source: CWU
