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Meeting men’s mental health needs during COVID-19 and beyond: a global health imperative

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Correspondence to Dr Ann Gottert; agottert@ popcouncil. org © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Reuse permitted under CC BYNC. No commercial reuse. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. The… Click to show full abstract

Correspondence to Dr Ann Gottert; agottert@ popcouncil. org © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Reuse permitted under CC BYNC. No commercial reuse. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. The COVID19 pandemic has produced a global mental health crisis whose scope and severity are becoming increasingly apparent. 2 While women and girls, men and boys, are all affected, we argue that the crisis among men warrants close attention given potential impacts on global public health, as well as the unique and gendered responses required to meet men’s needs. As researchers focused on men and masculinities, we have seen how men’s mental health and wellbeing can affect outcomes across the areas of genderbased violence (GBV), sexual and reproductive health (SRH), HIV and AIDS, and maternal and child health. Men’s mental health issues and illnesses contribute to poverty and the stress of poverty, and unhealthy coping mechanisms—especially substance abuse and violence—have cascading consequences for men themselves and the people around them. 5 These factors, in turn, cause poor SRH, family planning, maternal mental health and child nutrition. Moreover, men are less likely than women to seek help for mental health concerns, which can also be more difficult to detect. Our analysis of data from the COVID19 Trends and Impact Survey paints an alarming picture of the scale of the problem among men worldwide. Online serial crosssectional surveys were conducted with over 12 million Facebook users aged 18 years and older in 115 countries (with sampling weights applied to increase representativeness of the adult population in each country), from May 2021 to September 2021. Results showed that on average across countries, 36·8% of men reported feelings of depression (figure 1), and 33·8% reported feelings of anxiety. In addition, 43·9% and 67·5% reported worrying about food insecurity and household finances, respectively. For each indicator, prevalence was markedly higher among younger men and steadily decreased among successively older age groups. For example, 44·0% of 18–24yearold men worldwide reported feelings of anxiety, compared with 22·8% among ages 55 years and older. Prevalence also varied substantially between countries—reported feelings of depression, for instance, ranged from 18·2% in Denmark to 64·2% in Turkey (figure 1). Of note, women also experienced a high (and similar) prevalence for each indicator. The data further suggest that many men consider mental health a priority and are asking for support. Men ranked ‘How to maintain my mental health’ among the top COVID19related topics they wanted more information about (global mean 30·2%; 12·6%–46·1% across countries)—alongside COVID19 variants (37·0%) and treatment (35·9%). Recognition of the burgeoning crisis among men—and gaps in available resources—is Summary box

Keywords: among men; health; men mental; mental health; global health; reported feelings

Journal Title: BMJ Global Health
Year Published: 2022

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