American health-care policy makers decided years ago to devote greater attention to improving the health of women. Women's health issues have grown into an expensive and politically popular item on our health-care agenda.
The emphasis began with the Women's Health Initiative, launched in 1991 by Dr. Bernadine Healy, former National Institutes of Health director and U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio. Healy envisioned a $625 million study on the causes of disease among older women. The centerpiece was a much-criticized 10-year study on dietary fat and breast cancer.There are many other examples of heightened concern about women's health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for instance, has established an office to coordinate women's health programs. Similar concern has taken hold in other government agencies and throughout society.
These programs create mixed feelings in a lot of men.
On the one hand, we recognize them as a response to criticism that the government long underfunded or ignored efforts to improve women's health. Many studies of heart disease prevention and treatment, for instance, included only men. So there was no way of telling if the results applied to women.
And women face diseases with a personal impact that no male can ever fully appreciate. Breast cancer is a prime example.
But these special efforts also perturb men, who are members of the minority group that needs a major health initiative as much as women.
Yes, women long ago assumed majority status in the population - 51 percent today, compared to 49 percent for men. The proportion of women has grown steadily since the 1920s. And by every real-life and statistical measure, men are frailer, sicker, suffer from more ill health and die younger than women.
What kind of real-life measure? Look at retirement complexes and communities, for heaven's sake. Women are the overwhelming majority. Men are scarce.
What kind of statistical measures? Life expectancy for women is about 79 years, compared to 72 for men. That gap has grown since 1900, when women had a life expectancy of 48.3 years and men 46.3 years. At age 65, the average woman can expect to live about 19 years, compared to 15 years a man.
How about deaths per 100,000 population? The rate for white men is about 621 vs. 360 for women. For black men the rate is 1,027, vs. 568 for black women. Men has higher death rates from heart disease, cancer, accidents and many other conditions.
So banish any romantic notion about women as the weaker sex. Like many myths, there is truth in the ancient Greek legend of the Amazons. The Amazons were robustly healthy women who supposedly lived near what is now the Black Sea. Health-wise, modern women are amazonian when compared to men.
This whole issue arose because of an editorial in the British Medical Journal that makes the same point. We need to continue and expand research on women's health. Along with it, however, we also need a men's health initiative.
Yes, the program should emphasize research and public education about prostate and testicle cancer, two obvious diseases that affect only men. England just began a wonderful public awareness campaign, called "Keep Your Eye on the Ball" that could be a model. Heart disease is another obvious topic.
Some of men's biggest health problems emerge from a complex mix of biology, lifestyle and the desire to meet society's expectations about males.
Men are less able than women, for instance, to recognize early signs of disease and get help. They are more likely to have an unhealthy diet, smoke cigarettes and drink too much. Risk-taking, aggression and violence - especially when combined with alcohol - take a terrible health toll. They contribute heavily to automobile and other accidents, for instance, which also are more common among men.
A men's health initiative focusing on such topics could help close the male-female longevity gap. It could make life longer, healthier, and more satisfying for the minority population in today's society.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service)