Men's Health World Congress 2010 — Highlights
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 Congress unfolds Oct. 28-30 in Nice, France.
Event drives urgency to improve standards, mine incarceration's impact, employ social media
 | | Certain health risk factors are more common among men, yet men use preventive health services less than women. The World Congress addressed this. |
The Collins Center for Public Policy takes active role in push for improved care
Interest in men’s health is growing internationally. It is well known that men the world 'round suffer disproportionately from conditions such as heart disease and cancer, and die prematurely. Certain health risk factors — such as smoking, alcohol abuse and overweight — are more common among men. Yet, men utilize preventive health services less frequently than do women.
These health concerns are more pronounced in economically and socially marginalized populations. The mission of the Men’s Health World Congress, now in its seventh year, is to advance men’s health at all ages in all parts of the world, and to connect people in the cause of men’s health.
The Congress, the only such international event with a comprehensive scope, is multidisciplinary in nature. It draws the world’s experts in urology, cardiology, endocrinology, oncology, sexual medicine, mental and behavioral health, primary care, public policy, education, aging, and more to discuss the latest developments and the ongoing challenges in the emerging field of men’s health.
Following is an encapsulation of this year's events.
Collins Center Leaders
| | Dr. April M. W. Young is Vice President for Justice Initiatives at the Collins Center for Public Policy, an action-oriented think tank in Florida, USA. She has a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Harvard University, and an A.B. from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Dr. Young has worked extensively on questions of community change in urban areas. She designed the Overtown Men's Health Study, gathering extensive data on residents of a distressed neighborhood in Miami, Florida. In addition to research on the social determinants of poor men's health, Young works on related issues of juvenile justice, adult incarceration, and community re-entry. Before joining the Overtown project in 2003, she ran the Community-University Roundtables Project at Stanford University. The Roundtables Project initiated applied research and provided technical assistance in distressed California communities on topics ranging from police racial profiling to senior women's health to equitable technology access. Dr. Young has administered federal and state rental housing subsidy programs in Boston, Massachusetts. She provided policy analysis and technical assistance on federal housing grant programs to communities across the U.S. while with the social science research company Abt Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She continues to conduct research and provide housing-related technical assistance to low-income communities. |
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| Roderick N. Petrey is President of the Collins Center for Public Policy, Inc., a non-partisan, non-profit statewide policy center named after former Florida Governor LeRoy Collins. Petrey has served in that role since 1992. The Center has a substantial portfolio of projects, ranging from regional growth strategies and revitalization of urban neighborhoods to elections reform, health care, alternative dispute resolution, and hurricane catastrophe insurance. He recently retired as Senior Counsel to Holland & Knight LLP, a large law firm with offices throughout the world. He continues to serve as counsel to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a private philanthropy with assets of $2 billion; the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States; the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute; the North Dade Medical Foundation; and others.
He is a member of the Board of Trustees of and legal counsel for the P.L. Dodge Foundation. He has been Vice President of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation in New York; counsel for the Florida International University (FIU) Foundation; general counsel for FIU; Chairman of the We Will Rebuild Foundation, Inc., a private citizens’ organization formed after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 which raised over $27 million in private funds; a leader of "Miami Partners for Progress,” formed in 1993 to carry out a 20-point economic development plan; Chairman of the Greater Miami Advisory Committee for the non-profit Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC); President of the Florida Bar Foundation which provides millions of dollars annually for legal services for the poor; President of Florida Legal Services; Founder and Chairman of the Florida Justice Institute; Chairman of the Associated Marine Institutes, Inc. (a national youth services organization); Chairman and President of the Miami Museum of Science and Space Transit Planetarium; Chairman of the Standing Committee on Specialization of the American Bar Association; and others. Petrey is a past recipient of the Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award, presented annually by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida to one lawyer in Florida who exemplifies the public service spirit of the legal profession. He received the State of Florida Juvenile Justice Award from the Florida Conference of Circuit Court Judges. He has received the "Spirit of Excellence Award” presented by the Miami Herald for outstanding contributions to the South Florida community and the Cal Kovens Distinguished Community Service Award from Florida International University.
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Hard-hitting solutions to tough societal issues
At the Men's Health World Congress (MHWC), sponsored by the International Society for Men's Health, three leaders represented the Collins Center for Public Policy, Inc.: its Vice President for Justice Initiatives Dr. April Young, President Rod Petrey, and Director of Online Strategy in Communications, Marketing & Development Dan Bevarly. The Center, a Florida-wide, nonprofit organization that analyzes public policy and seeks creative, non-partisan solutions to society's toughest issues, has participated in the men's health worldwide meetings, and in pushing important changes in this area for several years, under Young's leadership. The Center's Participation at the World Congress this year was widespread and hard-hitting. | |
Event leaps from eHealth to post-prison strategies
In the push for important changes in men's health, the Collins Center and the International Society for Men's Health are seeing major moves forward. Some of *the Center's activities include: - A full-day conference on eHealth (application of the Internet and of mobile hand-held devices to advance health and well-being initiatives particularly among poor, disfranchised men), sponsored by the Collins Center;
- Presentation on Friday, Oct. 29, by Dr. Young on "Social determinants of men's health” with a focus on incarceration and its implications for health care, including the Collins Center's video of interviews with ex-offenders describing their experiences in very personal ways;
- Presentation by Dr. Martin Miner, Director of the Men's Health Center at Brown University's School of Medicine, on an international gathering that the Collins Center sponsored in April 2010 in New York City: "Consensus Conference on Men's Health Maintenance and Prevention”;
- A presentation by Collins President Petrey to the Plenary Session, on Saturday, Oct. 30, on "Advancing men's health: why and how?”;
- Collins Center recieved awards presented Thursday, Oct. 28, by Dr. Ridwan Shabsigh, President of the Congress, at the elegant Villa Massena, to the Collins Center's Young for "Outstanding Contributions” and to the Center itself for "Institutional Appreciation”; and
- Lavish praise from the podium for the Collins Center's work, plus a full-page presentation about the Center, next to the agenda page, in the Congress' glossy program.
Great interest abounds in the Collins Center's* work. Young's presentation on Oct. 29 was delivered to a full house, and participants lingered for so long asking questions that the group had to be asked to leave the room to accommodate the next presentation, which was set to begin.
| | MHWC 2010 — Interview With Dr. Vivian Pinn
MHWC 2010 - Interview with Dr. Vivian Pinn from Collins Center on Vimeo.
| | ABOUT THE VIDEO: Men's Health World Congress 2010's keynote speaker was Dr. Vivian Pinn, director of the office for women's health research at the National Insitute of Health. In the speech, she talks about the need for using social media and social networks to promote health information to the public.. | World's top health-care leaders combine minds ... The World Congress includes more than 900 health and medical professionals from around the globe — the very serious health-care leaders in their respective nations. By example, one of the Collins Center's closest partners in England, is Congress participant Professor Alan White of Leeds University, who was named one of the 100 most influential men in the world by a major magazine (White ranked 61st while Bill Gates ranked 28th). Many Americans participate in the Congress, giving U.S. leadership as well as international leadership on these matters.
| | | | | Ex-Offenders Reflect on Health Concerns
Ex-Offenders on Health Care from Collins Center on Vimeo. | | ABOUT THE VIDEO: Ex-offenders talk about their experiences with health related issues, including access to health care, mental health and substance abuse among others. |
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