The health of our men and boys: Homo-heterogeneity

Men and boys have unique health related needs, these differ from the health care needs of women and girls, the social determinants of health have a disproportionate effect on mortality in men. There is a growing acknowledgement that the health of the male population is significantly impacted on by their social situation. The Marmot Review Team¹note that increasing poverty is linked to a widening gap in life expectancy.

Health inequalities

Health inequalities are avoidable, they result in unjust differences in health status between various groups of people or communities. Health is determined by a number of factors including genetics, lifestyle, the healthcare people receive and the influence of wider determinants, for example the physical, social and economic environment. See Dahlgren and Whitehead’s model² representing the wider determinants of health (See figure 1).