Movember 2019 is fast approaching —
Learn more about it and why you should get involved
What is Movember?
Movember is a global initiative whose goal is to raise awareness of men’s health issues.
The Movember movement was born in 2003 in a pub in Melbourne, Australia. Friends Travis Garone and Luke Slattery were having a few beers when the conversation turned to moustaches — a once ubiquitous form of facial hair that by the early 2000s had largely fallen out of fashion.
Garone and Slattery ended up talking 30 friends into growing a moustache. Taking inspiration from breast cancer fundraisers, they decided to link the moustache challenge to a men’s health campaign.
They came up with the rules of Movember, designed a logo, and the following year registered the name and started a website. The foundations of Movember were laid.
Over the next few years, the Movember initiative took shape and became an official charity. After first partnering with the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, Movember became an official Australian charity, and by 2007 it launched campaigns in five other countries, including the UK and the US.
In the years since, Movember has spread to dozens of countries over five continents, involved over 5.5 million participants, and raised a total of AUS$730 million (£400 million) for men’s health.
What causes does Movember support?
While medicine has made huge leaps over the past century, men’s health is still facing a crisis. It’s a fact that men are dying way too young worldwide.
To understand the scale of the problem, it’s enough to take a quick look at the numbers, which are staggering no matter where you look. The average global male life expectancy lags behind women’s by 5 years. In the UK, 1 in 5 men die before their 65th birthday. Men are more likely to get cancer than women, and they’re also more likely to die from the disease.
Men’s lack of attention on their own health is a huge part of the problem — men are less likely to acknowledge health problems and are in general less health-conscious than women. For instance, more than 1 in 5 American men have not seen their doctor or any kind of health professional in over a year, while in the UK men are half as likely to go to the doctor than women. As a result, men are screened less for diseases and are way too often unaware of the warning signs of diseases such as cancer.
Movember aims to tackle this global crisis by focusing on some of the key issues in men’s health: prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health, especially depression and suicide.
Prostate cancer and testicular cancer
Prostate cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide (after lung cancer, breast cancer in women, and bowel cancer) and the second most common cancer in men. In 2018 alone, 1.3 million new cases were diagnosed globally.
While prostate cancer is highly treatable in its early stages, the survival rate dips to 30% once the disease has spread to other organs. It is crucial to raise awareness of prostate cancer, since early detection literally saves lives.
It has a 95% survival rate if caught early. Like with prostate cancer, raising awareness is crucial to ensure early detection.
Several treatment options exist today for both prostate and testicular cancer, but the choice between them isn’t always easy. Patients often experience painful or uncomfortable side-effects that sometimes linger in survivors well after treatment.
Movember funds a multitude of programmes around the world, including cancer research, education, treatment, and support for patients and survivors.
Mental health and suicide prevention
Suicide is not as rare as previously thought — the numbers are in fact shocking. In the UK, it is the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45.
Suicide and mental health are complex, sensitive issues. From a young age, boys are often conditioned not to express emotion or admit that they’re struggling — “boys don’t cry.” Later in life men are more resistant to seeking help when it comes to mental health and are up to four times more likely to die from suicide than women, even though more women are diagnosed with depression.
Movember’s mission is to reduce the rate of male suicides by 25% over the next decade, and for that end it identifies and supports prevention and early intervention programmes to improve the state of men’s mental health.
So what can you do?
By participating in Movember, you too can save a life or change one for the better.
Join a worldwide movement and become a “Mo Bro” by growing a moustache this November. Sporting an iconic bit of facial hair for whole month is sure to spark conversations. You can use all the attention your moustache will attract to spread awareness of men’s health issues and raise funds.
Movember welcomes women (called “Mo Sistas”) and the hirsutely challenged as well. If you’re unable or uninterested in growing a moustache, you can host a Mo-ment, or in other words a Movember-related event. You can also participate in MOVE for Movember by committing to walking or running a total of 60 kilometres in November to honour the 60 men lost to suicide every hour.
For more details, click here to visit the Movember website.
What we at mr.playpartners are doing this Movember
As the brand with the moustache, we’re committed to taking part. This Movember, we’re planning to take action in several ways:
- All of us here at mr.play will don our moustaches (be they grown or drawn).
- To put our money where our moustaches are, a portion of the casino’s proceeds will be donated towards men’s health initiatives. The more players you bring us, the more we can help men around the globe live longer.
- Throughout the month of November, we’ll work tirelessly to raise awareness of men’s health issues in our offices, via social media, and through our web presence.
You and mr.playpartners can also help by working together. Starting on 1st November, we have an exciting, special event planned only for our affiliates — the Great 2019 mr.playpartners Affiliate Race! Click here for more details.
We also encourage our affiliates to grow their own moustache — or draw one, if the prospect of walking around like an absolute legend for a whole month sounds too daunting (or if you’re a woman). Send us pics and we’ll make you famous on social media!
The health crisis facing men and boys worldwide is real. But it’s never been easier to help. Join mr.playpartners this Movember to make a difference.