Washington, D.C. — Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr., Founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Men’s Health Caucus, reintroduced the Men’s Health Awareness and Improvement Act now. The bill would establish an Office of Men’s Health within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to create, support and promote programs and activities to improve the state of men’s health nationwide.
“Too often, men skip routine health screenings and allow minor issues to become life-threatening problems,” said Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr. “We need to create more awareness of the dangers of delaying critical screenings for cancer and other treatable diseases. While advocacy organizations have done an outstanding job with campaigns to create awareness, our country needs an established office in the Department of Health and Human Services with the specific goal of increasing screenings and saving men’s lives.”
The risks to men’s health are on the rise nationwide. Men live an average of six years less than women in the U.S. and they are far more likely to die from cancer than women. Overall, almost 80,000 men will die from lung cancer and another 34,000 men will die from colorectal cancer this year. One out of every nine men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. In addition, more than 19 million American men have diabetes.
This new office would be modeled on a similar Office of Women’s Health, which was authorized recently by the Affordable Care Act. While it would deal with all men’s health, the office would focus on public awareness activities to increase screenings for colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes, cholesterol, and mental health. The bill is a very personal one for Rep. Payne, Jr. because he is a diabetic and his father, Congressman Donald M. Payne, Sr. died of colorectal cancer in 2012.
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