As Movember celebrates its 20th anniversary, men’s health advocates have no illusions about the scale of the challenge that still lies ahead.
For two decades, moustaches of all shades and styles have heralded the start of the Australian summer – a November staple on par with purple clouds of jacarandas in bloom and the crack of leather on willow on cricket pitches across the country.
While the movement has raised almost $1 billion globally for men’s health programs since its inception, male suicide and cancer rates remain a hairy challenge.
Despite the progress made in recent years, men account for three out of four deaths by suicide in Australia and one in five men will face a prostate cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, Movember Australia chief executive Michelle Terry says.
“Although there are many contributing factors, inadequate health awareness and literacy means that many men often underestimate their health needs and avoid seeking vital care and resources,” she says.
Suicide is the greatest contributor to potential years of life lost for men, shaving 35 years off a man’s life expectancy on average.
Health Minister Mark Butler will on Wednesday unveil the charity’s new $100 million institute, which aims to accelerate research into men’s health issues such as mental health, prostate and testicular cancers and health literacy, and translate it into real world outcomes.
Men’s health expert Simon Rice will lead the Movember Men’s Health Institute’s research, which he believes will “change and save lives”.
“It’s an initiative that will propel us faster towards our goal of improving men’s health and wellbeing globally,” Professor Rice said.
The federal government recently awarded $5 million in funding to a team of researchers at Monash University to develop CAR T cell therapy for prostate cancer.
The treatment is a form of immunotherapy that works by giving a patient’s immune cells the information needed to identify and attack cancer cells in the body.
It has successfully treated some forms of blood cancer but has yet to be effective in targeting solid cancers like prostate cancer.
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