Development of the first North Carolina men's health report card

As part of FirstHealth of the Carolina's work as a Community Voices grantee, it became evident that men's health is an often-overlooked component of the health of a community and is not readily captured in the same way as women's and children's health. The facts are that women outlive men by an average of six years. In the 1920s, males and females lived to be about the same age. Today, nationwide the ratio of male mortality has exceeded female mortality at every age and the gap continues to grow. In North Carolina, there is a deficit of health care safety nets for men despite the fact that men comprise 48 percent of the adult population. As FirstHealth Community Voices began to work on policy for men's health at the state level, it became evident that there was no single data source to determine the status of men's health in North Carolina. However, in North Carolina, report cards are produced on a regular basis looking at the health of women, children, racial disparities, and prevention efforts. A web search of “women's health report card” turned up over 4,000 results while a similar search of “men's health report card” turned up no results. Therefore, FirstHealth took the initiative to research and determine the feasibility of developing a statewide Men's Health Report Card. There were data challenges and policy barriers that were encountered and overcome in the production of the first North Carolina Men's Health Report card, which was released in January 2007.