The Men’s Health Unit at the Ministry of Health on Friday hosted an exhibition aimed at edifying men on the importance of their mental and physical health during which subject minister Dr Frank Anthony reprimanded men for neglecting the seriousness of their health.
The event was held in observance of International Men’s Health Week which commenced on June 13 and will conclude on Sunday. The week is being observed under the theme “Building Healthy Environments for Men and Boys”.
While delivering the feature address at the event hosted in the Ministry’s Brickdam compound, Dr Anthony said “the big problem that we have with men is that they don’t come to the health centre.”
However, this behaviour has to change because men too become sick and suffer from chronic non-communicable diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes, the minister explained.
These diseases develop when food intake is not monitored. Dr. Anthony said that they worsen when left untreated but are preventable in many instances.
The minister said too that the health of both men and boys is important because many ailments that are developed later on in life can be prevented from young.
“For boys, one of the things, if you take the HPV vaccines is that it can prevent genital cancer. There are cancers of the anus and cancer of the penis. You can prevent them from happening but in a lot of instances we have the vaccine to offer but when it’s being offered people don’t care, they don’t want them,” the Health Minister said.
Dr. Anthony then encouraged persons to take the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine and other vaccines that help prevent diseases.
He also reminded the gathering that alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking are among the many unhealthy habits that men need to change.
He explained that alcohol consumption leads to psychological and physical dependence and can then lead to persons getting cirrhosis of the liver. He added that smoking causes cancer because of its carcinogenic agents which contaminate the lungs.
