Men's Health Focus On Suicide Risk

Higher than normal levels of suicide in deprived areas are being highlighted this week as doctors urge men throughout Northern Ireland to 'Get up! Get out! Get Going!' in an effort to improve their health and wellbeing.

While urging that more exercise if taken, as part of Men's Health Week, Dr Ian Banks, the British Medical Association's (BMA) Spokesman on Men's Health and President of the European Men's Health Forum (pictured) said there is also something more fundamental causing many health problems.

"Inequality is at the root of many of our health problems in Northern Ireland," said Dr Banks.

"Low income disproportionately impacts on men's health and suicide rates in Northern Ireland are appalling," noting that the suicide rate for young men aged 15-24 years doubled between 1995 and 2000 to over 30 per 100,000.

Dr Banks continued: "In north and west Belfast, containing some of the most socially and economically disadvantaged wards in Northern Ireland, the 2002 the suicide rate for the area was 19 per 100,000 compared to10 per 100,000 for the rest of NI.

"This has to be halted," he insisted. "BMA urges politicians to work with doctors, other healthcare professionals and local people to tackle inequalities, to improve the health of our whole community. Prevention is better than cure and more cost effective in the long term."

On the levels of exercise being taken the expert continued: "Protection against heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, memory loss, colon cancer, fractures and depression should be enough to get men exercising.

"However increasingly sedentary jobs and lifestyles, for example using the car to go to the corner shop and reaching for the remote control while watching the world cup rather than playing football with mates are making men less active," he said.

"Just 30 minutes of physical activity a day is all that is needed to get health benefits, and you don't even need to spend money on expensive sporting equipment.

"Why not walk to the shops for the paper, take the stairs instead of the lift or play football with the children?" he asked, noting that men in Northern Ireland are also notorious for delaying going to their doctor when they feel ill.

He commented that this leads to the late diagnosis of serious medical conditions. Getting treatment at an earlier stage could result in an improved long term outcome for certain diseases such as diabetes or testicular cancer.

His advice come of foot of statictics from the NI Health and Social Wellbeing Survey 2005/06 which showed that 23% of people here are classed as sedentary and that just 30% of all people take above the recommended level of physical activity (30 minutes per day on five days a week.

He also highlighted data in the report, Suicide and young people: the case of Northern Ireland by Mike Tomlinson, QUB as evidence of the higher than normal rates of self-harm.

(BMcC/GK)