The Men's Health Initiative of BC

Welcome to Aboutmen.ca, the website of the Men’s Health Initiative of British Columbia (MHIBC).  We created this website as a one-stop resource for men to explore important health issues and hear from a variety of experts.  This site has been developed by passionate people with one thing in common: we’re men, and we’re committed to men’s health.

The MHIBC was created by the University of British Columbia’s Department of Urologic Sciences, in the Faculty of Medicine.  Together with our partners at Vancouver General Hospital, we’re working to address the challenges that men face, and remove the barriers to men living healthy, happy and long lives.

Most importantly, this is a website for you.  Take a look around; tell us what you think, what we’re doing well, and what we could be doing better.  We’re here to help guys like you take control of their health.  We hope you’ll join us.

The facts are staggering: men face earlier death than women in almost every disease category. By age 75, there are about three times more women around than men.  Men also lead the way – individually and collectively – in many of the psychological determinants of “disease”.  We men are world leaders in suicide, violence, and addictions.

Increasingly, our rapidly changing socio-cultural environment provides a world where many boys and men feel like we’re falling behind.  

Aboutmen.ca and the Men’s Health Initiative of BC are embarking on a rare and exciting opportunity: we’re working with guys to build this men’s health movement from the ground up.  It’s still early days, and we’re going to take some valuable lessons and advice from the women’s health movement, which has provided excellent models, experiences and wisdom to learn from.

We also know we’ve set some very lofty goals here, and some of the health topics we cover are kind of heavy.  We’ll try to inject some humour wherever possible, and keep things casual and accessible.

We’ve got a lot of work ahead – but we men like a challenge, right? 

Together, we’re going to invest in men’s health.