Movember – changing the face of men’s health

Thabazimbi – In the month formerly known as November, over half a million Mo-Bro’s and Mo-Sista’s across the world rally to raise funds and awareness for the often-ignored issues surrounding men’s health.

Movember is an annual event that dares men to grow a moustache during the month of November in support of issues such as anxiety, prostate cancer, testicular cancer and suicide.
This movement aims to increase early cancer detection, diagnosis and effective treatments, and ultimately reduce the number of preventable deaths. 

From humble beginnings, the Movember movement started in 2003 and has grown into a truly global event that has made epic progress in men’s health.
Movember is the leading global men’s health charity, funding over 1,250 projects in 21 countries worldwide. 

In South Africa, besides implementing global programmes, the Men’s Foundation develops and invests into men’s survivorship and research programmes. A more recent addition includes Project Peacock. Project Peacock provides the option of Low Dose Rate (LDR) brachytherapy to prostate cancer patients. 

As an advocate for Men’s Health and as a member of the Cancer Alliance, the Men’s Foundation has also been acknowledged for its contribution in developing the first ever policy and guidelines for treating prostate cancer and will be published next year by the Department of Health.

Platinum Bushvelder spoke to a moustache-wearing man about the importance of Movember.

Franco Loots said: “Movember inspires people to think about men’s health. Take care of yourself.” 

Sign up as a Mo-Bro or Mo-Sista at www.za.movember.com and choose to grow, host or move for men’s health. Whatever you do, it all fights these health issues that are the leading causes of men’s fatalities in South Africa.

All funds raised will go to awareness campaigns, research and survivor programmes linked to men’s health in South Africa.