In this report, ‘men’s health’ is used as shorthand for ‘the health and
wellbeing of men and boys’.
The term ‘health practice’ is preferred to the more commonly-used
concept of ‘health behaviour’. In many ways, the terms are synonymous
but ‘health practice’ suggests that what people ‘do’ is not simply a matter
of individual decision but is also influenced by a range of wider social,
economic and cultural factors.1
Comparisons between men’s health and women’s health should not be
read as meaning that women’s health is unproblematic or that bringing
men’s outcomes into line with women’s would be sufficient. That is far
from the case – women’s health also needs significant attention. But
because the differences in male and female health are only to a small
degree inevitable (less than 1-2 years of the life expectancy ‘gap’ is
believed to be genetically determined)2, they are one useful indicator of
where action is needed.
A limitation of this report is that it is based on evidence published in
English and focused primarily on the Global North which covers about
one-quarter of the world’s population and includes the United States
of America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Europe. Information
relevant to the Global South (broadly including Africa, Latin America, and
the developing countries in Asia), has been included wherever possible,
however.
All figures cited have been rounded for the purposes of clarity.