WINGS for Men Coordinator Invited to Conference in Brazil

This past month, our WINGS for Men coordinator, Adriana Smith, had the fortunate opportunity to attend and present at a conference in Brasilia, Brazil on “Men’s Health of the Americas” as a representative of WINGS and of Guatemala.

The United Nations Population Fund in Brazil organized and funded the event in collaboration with the Ministry of Health in Brazil. Representatives from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Barbados, Canada, Brazil and Guatemala were all present. Many of the country representatives came from Health Ministries and presented demographic snapshots of men’s health in their respective countries. They used several indicators associated with life expectancy and morbidity and mortality rates due to violence, alcoholism, drug abuse, traffic accidents, occupational safety and health care service utilization.

Adriana presented on the work WINGS for Men does to engage men in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) through educational workshops, Peer Education and our Behavior Change Communication campaign, which includes radio spots and posters with messages directed towards men. The presentation was unique because it was the only one that addressed SRH for men and community-based work; it was very well received.

Also attending the conference were professionals from medical associations in Brazil including the associations of urology, psychiatry, family medicine, cardiology, gastroenterology, etc. After hearing from country representatives about the importance of addressing men’s health and men’s lack of care-seeking, these associations came to a formal agreement to do more outreach for men and provide more male-friendly services in their clinics.

Another outcome of the conference was the great networking between health professionals interested in men’s health and programs demonstrating promising practices to engage men. Adriana is now in email contact with several of the conference participants, who are updating each other on additional events and sharing materials. As a result of Adriana’s excellent work, WINGS for Men now has a network of supporters in men’s health all over the Americas.