Men's Health Forum

This article is part of the Foodspin project of Spinwatch.

The Men's Health Forum is a registered charity formed on July 5 2001 charity number 1087375.

According to the latest Annual report on their website (for 2002) the Men's Health Forum’s mission is 'to provide an independent and authoritative voice for male health and to tackle the issues affecting the health and well-being of boys and men in England and Wales'.

They aim to achieve this through: • Research and policy development • Professional training • Providing information services • Stimulating professional and public debate • Working with MPs and Government • Developing innovative and imaginative projects • Collaborating with the widest possible range of interested organisations and individuals • Organising the annual National Men’s Health Week

People

• The Chief Executive of the Men's Health Forum is currently (2008) Peter Baker. Baker was appointed Director in July 2001. Baker was health editor of Maxim magazine from 1995-99, launch editor of malehealth.co.uk, deputy editor of the Men's Health Journal for two years and co-editor of the radical men's magazine Achilles Heel. His first book, The MANual: The complete man’s guide to life, was published in 1996; his latest, Real Health for Men, was published in 2002. Previously he worked for five years as a social policy researcher for the London Research Centre and three years as a press officer for the London Housing Unit. He was Honorary Visiting Research Fellow in Applied Social Studies at Bradford University (1993-95)..

• The President is Ian Banks.. Ian Banks is also President for the European Men's Health Forum and a member of the British Medical Association Council. Banks became President of the Forum in July 2001. (He was Chair of the Forum for the previous six years.) He is editor of the Men’s Health Journal and the UEMO Clinical Journal. He represents GPs for the British Medical Association(BMA), is a member of Council for the UK and is the BMA’s official spokesperson on men’s health. He is a trustee for the Doctor Patient Partnership and chairman of the Consumer Health Information Campaign. Ian also founded the Men’s Health Forum Ireland(MHFI) and for six years was the medical editor of Men’s Health magazine. .

The Men's Health Forum's Trustees

As of November 2008 the board of trustees was

• Alan White Chair of the Trustees
• Paul Bradley
• David Hudson
• John Larkin
• Gopa Mitra
• Gillian Nineham
• Jane DeVille-Almond DeVille Almond is owner of DeVille Almond Ltd a company that offers training on a range of subjects including obesity management, men's health and social marketing.
• Frederick Buckingham-Evans Buckingham-Evans has 20 years R&D and marketing experience in the pharmaceutical industry, and has been CEO of Business Link in Macclesfield and St Helens. He is also a trustee of the charity Ruralnet UK.

Publications

The Forum has previously published two magazines both of which have now closed down.

• Men's Health Journal The Men's Health Journal was launched in September 2001. It was a quarterly magazine aimed at health and medical professionals published jointly by the Forum and the Medical Education Partnership. It stopped publishing in 2003. Back issues are available from the Forum's website.
• MHF Magazine The MHF magazine was the quarterly news publication aimed at politicians, policymakers and health professionals. The magazine ran for 11 issues from November 2003 until its funding came to an end in June 2006. Back issues of the magazine are available to download from the Forum's website funded by a grant from Roche Products Ltd.

Male health website

The Forum now hosts a site called Male Health which, it claims, is the most comprehensive men’s health website in the UK. The site is aimed at males of all ages. At its heart is a Health A-Z section which covers 24 common health topics in a clear Q and A format. It includes the Male Body - A User’s Guide, an overview of every part of the male anatomy for beginners.

The Forum states that "The internet is the ideal way for men to access health information...Men’s magazines are providing less and less health information... Websites like MaleHealth will become increasingly important. "

Accounts

For the year ending Mar 2007 the Forum's accounts showed income of

• £45,000.000 from Department of Health grants
• £50,625.00 from pharmaceutical companies

For the year ending Mar 2006 the Forum's accounts showed income of

• £60,000.000 from Department of Health grants
• £127,875.00 from pharmaceutical companies

For the year ending Mar 2005 the Forum's accounts showed income of

• £65,000.000 from Department of Health grants
• £41,750.00 from pharmaceutical companies

For the year ending Mar 2004 the Forum's accounts showed income of

• £60,500.000 from Department of Health grants
• £45,000.00 from the NHS
• £48,000.00 from pharmaceutical companies

Sponsors and Supporters

Funding for 2006-7

• Abbott Laboratories Ltd £7,500
• Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd £25,200
• Asthma UK £6,000
• Barking & Dagenham PCT £15,000
• Bedfordshire Heartlands PCT £3,000
• Boehringer Ingleheim Ltd £7,500
• BUPA £12,000
• Cancerbackup £1,700
• Connexions North London Partnership £26,150
• Department of Health £124,000
• Equal Opportunities Commission £8,000
• Essex Primary Care R&D Office £4,000
• Food Standards Agency £6,000
• Football Association, The £10,000
• Knowsley PCTMBC £4,000
• Lloyds Pharmacy £5,000
• Macmillan Cancer Support £4,600
• National Obesity Forum £2,000
• NHS Employers £2,000
• NIMHE £10,000
• Pfizer Limited £38,000
• Prostate Cancer Research Foundation £2,000
• Roche Diagnostics Ltd £19,500
• Roche Products Ltd £16,500
• Royal British Legion, The £6,000
• Royal Mail £20,000
• Royal Marsden NHS Foundation £6,000
• Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain £12,000
• Sport England £5,000
• The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation £6,000
• Water UK £2,500
• Women & Equality Unit £7,000
• YMCA £6,000

The Forum also received in-kind support from:

• Anytime After Nine
• British In-Vitro Diagnostic Association
• PAGB
• LMCA
• Royal Society for the Promotion of Health

Funding for 2006

The Men's Health Forum (England and Wales) received £48,000 and the Men's Health Forum (Scotland) received £2000 from Pfizer

The Men's Health Forum (England & Wales) also commenced 'partnership' with Merck Sharp & Dohme Limited (the UK subsidiary of Merck and Co. Inc.).

Funding for 2004-5

• Abbott Laboratories £5,000
• AstraZeneca £5,000
• BT £9,375
• Eli Lilly £14,900
• Mentality - (part of the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health) - £5,000
• Pfizer £35,000
• Roche Diagnostics £25,000
• Roche Products £91,000
• Ruder Finn £5,000
• Sanofi-Aventis £17,500
• Shire Health £2,000
• Slim Fast Foods £5,000
• Water UK (an organisation which advertises itself as 'working on behalf of the water industry') £5,000

The forum also received support from

• National Obesity Forum £5,000
• TOAST £3,000

The Forum also received in-kind support from:

• British In-Vitro Diagnostic Association (the national trade association for companies with major involvement and interest in the In Vitro Diagnostics industry ) – the regular free use of meeting rooms;
• 8ml – hosting of websites;
• Harrison Cowley – PR support for National Men’s Health Week 2004.

Transparency

The Men's Health Forum has a policy in regard to its relations with corporate industry which states that...

'The Forum has relied – and still depends – heavily on corporate support in particular for a significant proportion of its core and project costs. It is essential, therefore, that the Forum establishes a strict, clear and transparent policy for collaboration and partnership. Such a policy will benefit both the Forum and other organisations by ensuring that the Forum remains independent and autonomous and that there can be no actual or perceived improper influence on its work'.

The Men's Health Forum may voice a commitment to transparency in policy, yet this is lacking in practice. The most recent figures (listed as 'current') for its corporate sponsorship dates back to 2004/05. As Miller sums up in his article on SpinWatch ...

'Whether, there is any actual improper influence on its work is difficult to tell, since the forum does not disclose the funding it 'depends on' from the private sector. Nor does it detail what it is for and what proportion of its budget is from private sources'.

Affiliations

• The Men's Health Forum Scotland(MHFS)

• TheMen's Health Forum Ireland(MHFI)

• The European Men's Health Forum (EMHF) was set up as an initiative by the Men's Health Forum. In 2007, Ian Banks holds the position of President on both Forums and Alan White (Chair of Trustees for the Men's Health Forum) also sits on the Board of Directors for the EMHF.

• The All Party Parliamentary Group on Men's Health. The Men's Health Forum helped MPs form the APG on Men's Health in early 2001 and now provides its secretariat. .

Contact

Men's Health Forum. Tavistock House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9HR

Tel: 020 7388 4449 Fax: 020 7388 4477

Email: office@menshealthforum.org.uk

Website: http://www.menshealthforum.org.uk/