Men's Health Foundation
The Men's Health Foundation is a non-profit foundation under civil law founded in May 2006 with headquarters in Berlin . It was founded on the initiative of the entrepreneur Olaf Theuerkauf with the aim of bringing the average life expectancy of men into line with that of women, which is 5 years shorter. For this purpose, among other things, the health of men in Germany must be given equal status on a social and political level to that of women. The foundation is primarily operational. The responsible supervisory authority is the Senate Department for Justice in Berlin .
organization
Board
The operational management of the foundation is incumbent on the board of directors, which currently consists of the medical doctor Kurt Miller, the theologian and educationalist Matthias Stiehler and the entrepreneur Olaf Theuerkauf.
Board of Trustees
A board of trustees monitors the fulfillment of the foundation's purpose, advises and controls the board of directors. It currently consists of Thomas Ballast , Axel Wehmeier and Dieter Althaus.
Scientific Advisory Board
A voluntary scientific advisory board supports the work of the foundation. It is organized in three working groups. Members of the working group for prevention and occupational medicine are currently Joachim Baltes, Martin Dinges, Ute Gola, Michael Despeghel and Bernhard Badura. Members of the Mental Health Working Group are Anne Maria Möller-Leimkühler and Michael Hettich. Members of the urology / oncology working group are Karl-Matthias Deppermann and Frank Christoph.
financing
The foundation is independent. Their activities are financed by a development association and donations. According to the foundation, the budget of 55,840 euros in 2018 came from the following sources:
- Friends' association: 36 percent
- Federal Center for Health Education: 25 percent
- Corporate donations: 12 percent
- Other: 27 percent
According to its own information, the foundation did not receive any direct payments from pharmaceutical companies or health insurance companies.
Goals and Activities
The foundation promotes gender-specific health reporting . It also publishes men's health reports that reveal gaps in supply and the need for research. It promotes research projects (e.g. the HAROW study), develops prevention offers and provides neutral and understandable information on men's health issues. The Men's Health Foundation sees itself as a representative of the interests of men in health policy. a. in the form of petitions for equal treatment of men and women in health policy. She is a member of the working group for men's health of the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) and advises the Federal Ministry of Health .
Men's health reports
The foundation publishes men's health reports at regular intervals. The first men's health report appeared in 2010. For the first time, the health situation, medical care and health behavior of men in Germany were examined. The data showed that men are not fundamentally closed to the topic of health. However, they have a different approach to health than women. Health communication and prevention offers must be tailored to the needs of men. Mental health was the focus of the 2013 Men's Health Report. The main finding of the report is that mental illnesses are taboo in men, which leads to deficits in diagnosis and care. Social attention for the mental health of men only arises when there are severe abnormalities. The third men's health report, published in 2017, takes a current look at the many facets of the sexuality of boys and men in Germany. The report is the first on this topic in Germany and Europe. He lists recommendations for action and suggestions on the need for research, health care and informing the population about current sexual trends. The fourth men's health report is planned to be published in autumn 2020. It focuses on the health situation of men in the transition to retirement. The key is the statement that the transition to retirement is successful if men prepare for it in good time and do not live professionally alone in the period before retirement. The call to politicians is to make the transition to retirement more flexible than before.
Day of Unequal Life Expectancy
The Men's Health Foundation is the initiator of Unequal Life Expectancy Day , which takes place every year on December 10th. It goes back to an idea by Matthias Stiehler . In an effort to illustrate the five-year difference in life expectancy between women and men, Stiehler equated the higher life expectancy of women with 365 days of the year and converted the lower life expectancy of men accordingly. The result was December 10th. The life expectancy of newborns from 2015 was used as a reference. This day was proclaimed the “Day of Unequal Life Expectancy” by the Men's Health Foundation . It is intended to draw attention to the difference in the life expectancy of men and women and to call for more energy and resources to be invested in promoting men's health. The reasons given for the lower life expectancy of men are social differences within the group of men, traditional role models, but also social expectations of men.
In 2018, the Men's Health Foundation carried out a Facebook campaign on Unequal Life Expectancy Day for the first time . It started on International Men's Day (November 19th) and went through December 10th. In 2019 the theme of this campaign was “Know your risk”. At the same time, events on this topic took place in seven cities. In 2020 the campaign will be dedicated to the topic of "Good work makes you healthy - bad work takes (your) life". At the same time, the fourth men's health report of the Men's Health Foundation with the title “Men and the transition to retirement” will be published.
Cooperation partner of the Foundation Men's Health at the date of unequal life expectancy are the network boys and men's health , the Fachstelle men working axes , the federal forum men , the Dresden Institute for Adult Education and Health Science and the fathers Center Dresden .
research
The foundation initiates care studies to determine the real prevailing care situation for men in Germany. She was u. a. Carrier of the largest independent urological study in German-speaking countries (HAROW study). The study examined which therapy is chosen by doctors for the cure of localized prostate cancer and which consequences result with regard to the quality of life.
enlightenment
With the men's health knowledge series, the foundation publishes advisors that are primarily aimed at men. The individual issues contain information, tips and further links on general health topics such as exercise or diet as well as on various diseases. The concept of the knowledge series is based on the insight gained in the First Men's Health Report that men want to be informed differently than women.
In addition, the foundation regularly organizes information events and runs awareness-raising campaigns.
Workplace Health Promotion
The foundation strives for gender-oriented health prevention in companies, offers advice on workplace health promotion and develops men-specific prevention offers. In response to the Men's Health Report 2013, she commissioned the development of a gender-sensitive survey tool to identify signs of stress and burnout, which was developed by the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich under the direction of Anne Maria Möller-Leimkühler. Since 2017, she has been promoting the development of a German-language, scientifically based health app for men.
Memberships
The foundation is a member of the Federal Association of German Foundations , the Federal Men's Forum, the European Men's Health Forum, Global Action on Men's Health and the Informationsdienst Wissenschaft eV
Publications
In 2015 the foundation developed a scientific definition of the term “men's health” and thus closed a previously existing gap. The definition was published as an online publication on October 22, 2015 in the scientific journal Health Care ; a short version appeared in 2016. The English version of this publication was published in 2017 in the Journal of Men's Health .
In addition, the foundation is the publisher of the men's health knowledge series , a series of advisors that is explicitly aimed at men in terms of content and design.
literature
- F. Jockenhövel, J. Heidemann, Ch. Rüssel: Men's health - interdisciplinary large-scale construction site. ÄP Urologie 4 (2008), pp. 18-21 (PDF file; 11 kB).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ List of foundations under civil law with legal capacity based in Berlin (as of February 26, 2009) ( Memento of the original from March 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.2 MB)
- ↑ Men's Health Foundation - Organization, accessed at https://www.stiftung-maennergesundheit.de/stiftung/organisation.html on September 18, 2019
- ↑ Doris Bardehle, Matthias Stiehler (ed.): First German men's health report . Zuckschwerdt Verlag GmbH, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-88603-987-6 , p. 198 .
- ↑ Lothar Weißbach, Matthias Stiehler (ed.): Men's Health Report 2013 - In Focus: Mental Health . Verlag Hans Huber, Bern 2013, ISBN 978-3-456-85269-0 , p. 276 .
- ↑ Men's Health Foundation (ed.): Third German Men's Health Report . Psychosozial-Verlag, Giessen 2017, ISBN 978-3-8379-2683-5 , p. 449 .
- ↑ http://www.tag-der-ungleichen-lebenserwartung.de
- ↑ J. Herden, L. Ansmann, N. Ernstmann, D. Schnell, L. Weißbach: Therapy of localized prostate cancer in everyday German care - a multicenter, prospective observational study (HAROW) with 2957 patients . In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt . tape 113 (19) , 2016, pp. 329-336 .
- ↑ D. Bardehle et al .: What is men's health? A definition . In: Healthcare . tape 77 . Georg Thieme Verlag KG, October 22, 2015, p. e30 – e39 .
- ↑ D. Bardehle et al .: What is men's health? A definition . In: Healthcare . tape 78 . Georg Thieme Verlag KG, 2016, p. 467-468 .
- ↑ D. Bardehle et al .: What is Men's Health? A definition . In: Journal of Men's Health (USA) . DOI 10.22347 / 1875-6859.13.2.5, October 24, 2017, p. e40 – e52 .
