Story: Men’s health

National Party MPs promote Movember

National Party MPs promote Movember

In 2003, recognising that men had few opportunities to promote male health in the way that the women's health movement had pioneered, a group of men in a Melbourne pub came up with the idea of growing moustaches during the month of November. It was hoped this would encourage men to talk about their health with their mates and raise funds for men's health initiatives. In 2006 the Movember initiative spread to New Zealand, and these National MPs gave it a boost – although growing real moustaches, not wearing false ones, was the main idea for the month. The promoters of the campaign in New Zealand were the Cancer Society, which wanted to highlight prostate cancer, and the Mental Health Foundation, which had a specific interest in depression among men.

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Photograph by Ross Setford

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How to cite this page:

Robert Beaglehole, 'Men’s health - Future prospects for men’s health', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/26965/national-party-mps-promote-movember (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Robert Beaglehole, published 5 May 2011, reviewed & revised 28 Apr 2020, updated 1 Jul 2017