Editorial

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It still surprises those of us working on men's issues that it has taken so long to realise - and that there is so little real grassroots support and advocacy for - men's health as a legitimate domain in public health. The men's movement - such as it is (see Connell 2005/1995) - goes back to the late 1970s; the gay men's movement started earlier and the gay men's health movement has been better organised and articulated since then (if one understands and concedes the central place that HIV/AIDS has taken during the last 28 years). What men's health will become, what it will include, redefine and incorporate in the next ten years is interesting to consider.In May 2010, the Australian Government launched a long-awaited national men's health strategy, entitled (somewhat tweely) the National Male Health Strategy: Building on the Strengths of Australian Males (Commonwealth of Australia 2010). It was long awaited because work had first started well over 15 years ago during the Keating Labor Party administration under its then Federal Health Minister Dr Carmen Lawrence. What remains of that initiative emerged in 1998 - a document entitled Men's Health: A Research Agenda and Background Report (Connell et al 1998). Then followed 11 years of frustration under the conservative government of John Howard during which little progress on a policy was made at a national level, although some State governments did move forward on the issue. The Howard years did yield some important initiatives: the establishment of Andrology Australia1, a national centre of excellence focused on men's reproductive health, based at Monash University in Melbourne; and the establishment of MensLine Australia2, a national telephone support line.That period also witnessed the gradual rise of a national, coordinated men's health 'movement', focused largely on biennial conferences, which importantly featured an Indigenous men's health component in various guises. This led to the eventual formation of the Australasian Men's Health Forum (AMHF) in 2006. AMHF has developed a series of activities (newsletters e.g., E-MALE; websites e.g., Men's Health Australia) that continue to build a constituency by bringing together policy makers, researchers, community advocates, health professionals practitioners, and the like. We used inverted commas around the word 'movement' because most of us working in the field would recognise that 'men's health', as a galvanising and mobilising issue, has never gathered the head of steam that 'women's health' produced from the 1970s onwards. That, in part, explains the slowness of progress over the years and the lack of political purchase the issue has achieved.The Labor Party federal government elected in 2007 did finally move on the issue under its Health Minister Nicola Roxon and her Minister for Indigenous Health, Rural and Regional Health and Regional Services Delivery, Warren Snowdon, someone long involved in Indigenous issues and with a solid 'feel' for men's health as an issue. The policy took some time to develop, and there were certainly some false turns (drafts that were inadequate, an earlier discussion paper that was less than satisfactory, and consultative processes that were poorly done at times); but it finally arrived. The new policy is modest in its scope and ambition. Framed within the notion of the social determinants of health, the policy aims to promote:* Optimal health outcomes for males;* Health equity between different population groups of males;* Improved health for males at different life stages;* A focus on preventive health for males, particularly regarding chronic disease and injury;* Building a strong evidence base on male health and using it to inform policies, programs and initiatives; and* Improved access to health care for males through initiatives and tailored healthcare services, particularly for male population groups at risk of poor health.To achieve this, the Policy aims to: improve male awareness of preventable diseases and injuries; support males to take charge of their health and act to improve their health; and infl uence health care services to provide better information and access for males. …