Campaign to encourage male health awareness
Matthew and Alan Richardson, former Richmond Football Club players
A new campaign featuring Richmond Football Club legend Matthew Richardson is being run by Andrology Australia to encourage awareness of male reproductive health.
Australia’s peak authority on male reproductive health has launched a national campaign featuring former Richmond Tigers player Matthew Richardson, which urges men to “talk about their tackle”.
Aimed at encouraging Australian men to better understand the risks of ignoring issues with the ‘bits below the belt’.
Richardson said he and his father got involved with the campaign because it deals with issues that have affected people they both know.
“This is such an important initiative, and if we can contribute to getting the message heard by Australian men, and maybe shifting their attitudes, that can only be a good thing,” he said.
Andrology Australia’s Director, Professor Rob McLachlan said while the campaign aimed to take a lighter approach, the issues it raised were of paramount importance to men of all ages.
“Among Australian men, about half will experience prostate problems, one in 5 over the age of 40 has erectile problems, an estimated one in 20 are infertile, and one in 200 will suffer from testosterone deficiency,” Professor McLachlan said.
“Each year 680 men are diagnosed with testicular cancer, and this number is rising.”
“We are calling on Australian men, as well as the women in their lives, to take reproductive health problems seriously and begin talking to each other and their doctors.”
He said while reproductive health was a difficult subject for most men – it could often act as an indicator of more serious problems including heart disease and diabetes.
“Our main message here is that by getting men to ‘talk about their tackle’, we can dramatically reduce the incidence of those problems and improve the quality of life of Australian men into the future.”
Andrology Australia is an initiative funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and is administered by Monash University.
For further information about the campaign, visit www.talkaboutyourtackle.org