Movember is an annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer and depression in men.
Who can we blame for this initiative?
Look no further than the Movember Foundation – a global not-for-profit, charitable organisation which runs this Movember celebration of men’s health.
For the record, the idea for Movember came about in 2003 when a few mates having a beer in a Melbourne pub recognised that men were lacking a way to adequately promote men’s health and came up with the idea to bring the moustache back for one month, and in doing so, have some fun, raise money and hopefully encourage men to talk about their health.
So why are we talking about Movember on a life insurance blog???
Because we in the life insurance business are impacted by the very health issues highlighted by this initiative – particularly prostate cancer.
Did you know?…
- Prostate cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death in men (3.8%) behind lung cancer (6.1%) and bowel cancer (4%)
- In NZ, around 2000 to 3000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year.
- There are generally no early warning symptoms for prostate cancer
- All men over the age of 50 are at risk of prostate cancer and should be tested annually
- If you have a history of prostate cancer in your family you should have tests from age 40
- Prostate cancer is curable if detected and treated early
- Men are not bullet proof. (Yep, it’s true… men get cancer too)
- You can get a Life Cover policy online that pays you a lump sum up if you’re diagnosed with terminal cancer.
