What we’re doing about men’s health

The National Men's Health Strategy

The National Men’s Health Strategy 2020–2030 aims to help every man and boy in Australia to live a long, fulfilling, and healthy life. It will improve health outcomes for Australian males by:

Strategy objectives

• empower and support men and boys to optimise their own, and each other’s, health and wellbeing across all stages of their lives
• strengthening the capacity of the health system to provide quality and gender-responsive care for all men and boys
• build the evidence base for improving the health and wellbeing of men and boys in Australia. 

Addressing priority health issues 

• mental health and wellbeing 
• chronic conditions 
• sexual and reproductive health and conditions where men and are over-represented 
• injuries and risk-taking behaviour 
• healthy ageing. 

Help-seeking and protective health behaviours 

Looking after your health is a strength. 

Our approach to men’s health focuses on supporting men and boys to take practical steps that protect their health and wellbeing. This includes getting reliable health information, checking in with a GP, staying connected to others, and seeking help early when something does not feel right. 

There are trusted organisations and resources that provide practical advice and support. 

• there are many good reasons to visit your GP and it is important to maintain your health and wellbeing so that you can present your best self and live your best life. The 101 reasons to visit your GP website provides examples of common situations where visiting a GP could help with improving your health or mental health. 
• outside of visiting your GP, you can also be proactive in looking after your own health and wellbeing. The Good Health Heroes website provides practical tips for how you can adopt positive preventive health practices without having to upend your life. 

Initiatives and programs

Male Health Initiative

This initiative supports male health organisations to raise awareness and education on key men’s health issues, such as: mental health and chronic conditions. This includes informing policy through stakeholder consultation and building the evidence base.

Organisations funded were:

• Healthy Male
• the Australian Men’s Health Forum
• the Centre for Male Health (Western Sydney University).

An independent evaluation of the Male Health Initiative was done in 2021. Read the evaluation report.

Movember 

We are partnering with Movember on 3 strategy implementation projects: 

• the Movember Men’s Health Education (MMHE) project has supported the development of gender responsive education and training to support GPs, nurses and pharmacists in treating and managing male patients. Future project work will underpin the development of men’s health education modules for Australian tertiary medical students. 
• under the Men in Mind (Primary Healthcare Practitioners) program, Movember will roll out MMHE education and training to thousands of primary healthcare practitioners across Australia. 
• through an expansion of its Ahead of the Game program, Movember is providing mental health resilience training and support to boys aged 12-18 years, youth umpires, and their support networks (parents, coaches, and club volunteers) in more community sporting clubs around the country. 

Men's sheds

Men’s sheds are community-based, non-commercial organisations that are open to all men. Learn about the work we're doing to support men's sheds.

Plus Paternal 

Healthy Male, assisted by Deakin University, is undertaking the Plus Paternal Initiative which aims to improve the health – and strengthen the mental health resilience – of fathers by increasing the engagement and support of men from preconception to early parenthood. 

Research studies

We are supporting the following studies:

• the Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health (Ten to Men) – this study follows boys and men over time as they transition through the different stages of life, aiming to
  • inform government policy and program development in male health
  • support researchers working in the men’s health space
• conducting a gap analysis of evidence for male health – this will involve
  • an in-depth literature review
  • stakeholder consultation process
• conducting a literature review to assess the barriers to health system access by men and boys
• reviewing higher education curricula to identify training gaps in effective gendered communication – read the final report of the first phase of the Men’s Health Education for Health Professionals project led by Movember, where stage one involved
  • review of Australian Continuing Professional Development Programs and Australian tertiary education curricula
  • university staff and medical student surveys and consultations
  • a scoping review of the peer-reviewed literature
  • in-depth focus groups with men.

Other preventive health initiatives

Read about other preventive health work we fund that will impact the health of men and boys in Australia.