TEHRAN- Men’s health, in all age groups, is more at risk compared to women, said an official with Health Ministry in a press conference. 

 The conference was held to mark Iran’s national health week of men, running from February 20 to 26, ISNA reported on Saturday. 
The theme of this year’s men’s health week is “more active and healthier men.” 

“Currently, we are devising a strategic plan to address men’s health and we will implement it over the next [Iranian] year [starting March 21],” said Hamed Barakati who presides over the ministry’s department of population, family and school’s health. 

“There are six priorities in this plan, addressing three conditions that lead to death and three other major conditions that lead to disease in men,” said Barakati. 

Overweightness, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, addiction, high blood lipids and blood pressure, as well as traffic accidents are among the factors threating men’s life the most.According to him, women, in general, have a healthier lifestyle than men. This could be rooted in men’s attitude toward their health as they usually think they don’t need medical care or are immune to disease. 

Reasons of disease and death in men
Overweightness, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, addiction, high blood lipids and blood pressure, as well as traffic accidents are among the factors threating men’s life the most, Barakati noted. 
“Even though men have averagely higher education than women, they have less health-related information,” said the official. 
“Also, the number of women covered by health insurance is around two to three percent higher than men.”
In our country, he said, the factors leading to death among men, aging 30 to 70 years, are cardiovascular diseases, traffic accidents, stroke, Diabetes, digestive system cancers, lung cancer, violence, high blood pressure, suicide and respiratory diseases. 

The factors leading to disease in men are mostly psychological disorders, skeletal system disorders and sexually transmitted diseases (STD), added Barakati. 
“Around 57% of men suffer from STDs but they are usually late in visiting a specialist for it,” he further remarked. 

doctor visits low among men 

According to Barakati, it is expect that 32% of men visit health centers ever year, but the statistics show much lower rates.”  

“We also aim to pilot a plan, so that some health centers will be open in afternoons too, when men are more likely to visit such centers. Furthermore, in some cities, we have done medical screening for men in their workplace,” he further noted. 

According to World Health Organization, In most parts of the world, health outcomes among boys and men continue to be substantially worse than among girls and women, yet this gender-based disparity in health has received little national, regional or global acknowledgement or attention from health policy-makers or health-care providers.

The Global Burden of Disease study led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in 2010 (GBD 2010 study) showed that throughout the period from 1970 to 2010, women had a longer life expectancy than men. Over that 40-year period, female life expectancy at birth increased from 61.2 to 73.3 years, whereas male life expectancy rose from 56.4 to 67.5 years. 

SJ/MG