By Virginia ‘Ginya’ Carnahan, APR, CPRC
Movember? Have you heard of it? If not, it is time to get with it. “Movember” is an international campaign, created 20 years ago to raise awareness about men’s health issues, and to generate funds to educate men and underwrite greatly needed research in four areas. Those areas are mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer.
Across the world, one man dies by suicide every minute of every day. (69% of all suicides are men.) 10.8 million men face prostate cancer annually, and testicular cancer is the most prevalent cancer diagnosis in young men. These statistics are a dire reflection of men’s health across the globe.
Two decades ago, in 2003, a couple of young “mates” in Melbourne, Australia were sharing a beer and discussing the sad status of men’s knowledge about their own health. They thought they might be able to improve this status by joining together with a campaign to focus on awareness and education. Their solution was the campaign now known as Movember, a world-wide effort “to change the face of men’s health.”
Their unique method of bringing men together from everywhere focused on their individual faces, and the ability of growing a mustache! Over the years mustaches had grown very much out of fashion, and were rarely seen at that time. Movember would use the mustache as a symbol of the quest for better men’s health.
The original pair gathered friends and coworkers to form a core membership of 30 “Mo-Bros” and supporting “Mo-Sistas.” They set out to research the real conditions of universal men’s health, and initially sought a partnership with the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and later Prostate Cancer Canada.
By 2007 (just 4 years), Movember had gathered 134,171 members in 21 countries and contributed to1,300 men’s health projects around the world. Today there are more than 6 million member participants, and Mo donations are funding 30 worldwide research teams.
How did they do it? They created a variety of methods to raise Movember awareness and funds – all of which revolved around growing mustaches, with an element of fun. For instance, many businesses now hold annual Movember challenges. Participants shave clean on October 31 and grow their mustaches for 30 days of Movember. They join the international campaign by registering on the Movember website and encouraging friends, family and coworkers to pledge dollars in support of their mustache growth. Other campaigns have focused on professional sports team to visibly grow a “mo.” These sports related programs are shared with young athletes, encouraging them to adopt healthy mental and physical lifestyles that will serve them throughout life. And all kinds of “Mo-ments” are created to celebrate the mighty “Mo.”
In addition to supporting prostate cancer and testicular cancer research, the Movember efforts found a point of critical need involving the mental health of first responders. These heroes often come home with huge burdens of stress from the kind of work they are called to do. Programs to help them decompress and relax are vitally important and helpful in the prevention of suicide.
To learn more about this month-long campaign and its year-round activity to change the face of universal men’s health, check out their website: www.movember.com. They call “the Order of Mo the World’s Least Secret Society.”
You fellows who hate to shave, here is a perfect excuse to give it up for a month and do some good in the meantime.
Krishen Greenwell is a software engineer, originally from British Columbia. He moved to Sarasota in 2002 to work with METI, a growing organization known for creating innovative patient simulators. METI was soon purchased by Montreal-based CAE Healthcare, reuniting Krishen with some fellow engineer employees. In 2011 he was invited to join the Mo Team in Montreal as an offsite member. He has participated in the Mo campaign ever since.
Krishen says he is uplifted by his opportunity to personally challenge the status quo, to shake up men’s health research, and transform the way health services reach and support men. He is disappointed by the male standard that they don’t talk about their health because it is not considered “manly.” “That needs to change,” he states, “because too many men are dying!”
Krishen Greenwell, a 13-year veteran Movember participant, has added his own personal commitment to the month-long challenge: he pledges to be physically active, walking or running a total of 60 miles during the month.
If you are unable to participate in Movember, you can choose to support the campaign of any team member by going to the website and search the team roster.