MEDICAL MATTERS:We men badly need a vociferous advocacy group to fight for us, writes MURIS HOUSTON.
‘THE DISPARITY between men and women in the incidence of cancer is extremely marked. Such disparities would undoubtedly and rightly be the subject of targeted strategies if they were related to social class or ethnic origin rather than gender. The conclusion here is clear – that present policies for the prevention of cancer are failing men.”
A hard-hitting statement from an Irish advocacy group? Unfortunately not. Although clearly applicable to this country, it comes from the UK Men’s Health Forum.
And while it may seem churlish to focus on this in the days after the Minister for Health launched the Republic’s first dedicated prostate cancer rapid-access clinics at St James’s Hospital, Dublin and University Hospital Galway, I am amazed at the lack of an outcry concerning the arrangements for a new colorectal cancer screening programme which were also announced last week.
Or perhaps that should be a lack of arrangements. Holding separate press conferences in the same morning, neither of which were attended by Mary Harney, was the first indication that the issue was about to be fudged. And when a press statement did emerge from the Department of Health, we knew the spin-meisters had been hard at work.
"I want to introduce a national programme of colorectal cancer screening as soon as possible. Colorectal cancer kills over 900 people in Ireland every year. The expert reports confirm that a properly organised screening programme would have huge public health benefits and I want to find innovative[my italics] ways of putting that in place," the Minister said, tongue firmly in cheek.
No mention of money. Just ‘innovative’, a lovely word, full of the promise of something new and exciting. But the problem with ‘innovative’ is its vagueness.
And especially its lack of reference to funding and the specific time lines required if colorectal cancer screening is ever to see the light of day here.
It’s just a pity all concerned couldn’t have come out and said “this is something we really want to do but we don’t have the money. However, we will formally look at funding options for this important programme as part of next year’s health Estimates”.
Politicians and their advisers just don’t seem to realise that dissembling simply isn’t part of the modern zeitgeist. After the many shocks of the past 10 months, what the Irish public want to hear more than anything else is the unvarnished bottom line.
So why, if colorectal cancer affects both sexes, am I focusing on men’s health? Put simply, it’s because screening for bowel cancer is the very first time men in this State will be offered a quality screening programme proven to reduce cancer. Women can rightly access screening for breast and cervical cancer; however, current evidence does not support screening for ONE OF THE FEW gender-specific male cancers, namely cancer of the prostate.
Although not gender specific, the failure to fund colorectal cancer screening is, in my view, anti men. Would Ms Harney have dared to adopt the same approach to screening for a women’s cancer? I doubt it. The very least we could expect would be a commitment to a region-by-region roll-out of the programme.
Her attitude reflects the realpolitik of not having a strong voice advocating for men’s health in the Republic.
Yes, we have the Irish Cancer Society’s Action Prostate Cancer campaign. The ICS also runs a support group for men who have been diagnosed with cancer of the prostate. And there is the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland (MHFI), an all Ireland body that does not have a high public or media profile.
What we don’t have, and which us men badly need, is a vociferous advocacy group, something similar to the breast cancer advocacy group, Europa Donna. Perhaps we should also lobby for a statutory Men’s Health Council, a male equivalent of the effective Women’s Health Council. Some group that would have responded within hours of the colorectal cancer announcement and pointed to the inequity of the Minister’s decision and prompted the media to ask if she really meant to discriminate against men.
Is there anyone out there willing to take up the challenge?
Muiris Houston is pleased to hear from readers at mhouston@irishtimes.com but regrets he is unable to reply to individual medical queries
