Since 1999, every year 19 November marks the International Men’s Day. It is not a coincidence that this day falls in the month of November, also called Movember - the month to raise awareness about men’s mental and physical health. Throughout this month, awareness is raised about mental illness, prostate cancer, heart and lung diseases among men.
The month is represented by a moustache and men celebrating it grow one to express their solidarity to the day and the cause behind it.
“A man, especially in Pakistan, is brought up being reminded again and again that he “cannot” feel pain or express his emotions because he is a man.”
Armughan Tauheed, a medical practitioner from Pakistan and currently affiliated with the University of Wollongong, says men take their mental health for granted due to internalised patriarchal cultural notions that do not let them express their feelings of pain, anxiety, depression and most of all – failure, unlike women.
“A man, especially in Pakistan, is brought up being reminded again and again that he “cannot” feel pain or express his emotions because he is a man,” he says.
International students
He talked to SBS Urdu about his recent research project on mental health issues among Pakistani international students as a result of loneliness and homesickness and says that most of his participants, who were male students, were clearly showing symptoms of stress.
75% of suicides around the world are by men: Armughan Tauheed
“Over time, this inner build-up of emotions and anxiety starts affecting their physical health,” he says.
According to experts, five diseases are more common among men around the world than among their female counterparts: high blood pressure, mouth cancer, heart attack, lung diseases and prostate cancer.
Mr Tauheed says most young men migrate to Australia and other countries as young university students and there are lots of pressures on them, including financial responsibilities, the run for permanent residency, supporting family back home and then calling their partners and children onshore once they get married.
He also expressed his concern over the increasing trend of smoking and suicide [attempts] among young men going through stress, away from home. Men account for 75 per cent of suicides around the world he says.
According to experts, five diseases are more common among men around the world than among their female counterparts: high blood pressure, mouth cancer, heart attack, lung diseases and prostate cancer.
Mr Tauheed says men need to vent out and express their feelings and must not let social, cultural and gender boundaries stop them.
“There’s a five-point rule to keep yourself safe from stressors and triggers,” he said adding, “talk, ask, listen, encourage and check,” he says.
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