Movember in AFRica

Movember, the month formerly known as November, is a moustache-growing charity event that raises funds and awareness about men’s health (movember.com) I will try and grow a cheesy moustache with the rest of the lads from Canterbury Rugby club. The idea for Movember was sparked in 2003 over a few beers in Melbourne, Australia. The guys behind it joked about 80’s fashion and decided it was time to bring the moustache back. In order to justify their Mos (Australian slang for moustache), they used their new looks to raise money for prostate cancer research… never dreaming that facial hair would ultimately lead to a global movement that would get men talking about a taboo subject – their health… which leads to my focus; AFRican men’s health.

AFRican men are genetically and environmentally challenged; in the sense that there are many diseases, infections; viruses, fungi, bacteria, parasites and the likes that hunt them from before they are even conceived to the day they die. Malaria, Tuberculosis, Hypertension, Diabetes, the many Cancers (lung, prostate, etc), HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, to name but a few, have long stalked and robbed AFRica of its invaluable brothers, uncles, fathers and grandfathers. The risk is increased by AFRican men’s reluctant to go for routine checks, the unavailability of medical services in some parts of the continent and general ignorance. One said that the only time that one would ever go to the doctor is when they feel they are about to die; while they can walk and work and drink, there is no need. This has been AFRica’s demise. Promising scholars, athletes and statesmen have all been lost to us because they are layers of undetected health problems that compound due to lack of treatment.
AFR wants to educate AFRica’s children, mostly orphans, but we need to pre-empt the causes of loss of parents. If we can pay for children to go to school while keeping more parents alive, we may well spoil the vicious circle that leads to the perpetuation of poverty in AFRica. So fathers, uncles and brothers, we encourage you to start thinking about your health; for your families’ sake.

As I write this note, I remember the time my uncle suffered from malaria. I was just seven and a half, but I still remember the events as they unfolded. As a child, I only heard the censored version that my aunt whispered to her friends. In the first few days of the ailment, the man insisted that he was just tired and needed no attention. He began to fade and someone in the village suggested that he had been bewitched. I heard that my uncle went to the “prophet” and received “holy water” and ordered back to his house, minus some money and two chickens. The man faded more and in the course of three days received more “holy water.” My aunt eventually forced him to go to clinic, where they could not diagnose the disease. They suspected it was malaria and so referred him to Mutare general hospital, where he was admitted. By then, the malaria had developed into cerebral malaria and the man was not himself. The doctors managed to cure him, but not before we saw a man so emasculated, with salty dry whitened lips that his wife and all adults broke down into tears when they saw him, He is eternally in my aunt’s debt for forcing him to clinic; but that’s it; he had to be forced.

AFRican men need to take ownership of their own health. This needs to be reinforced through media; radio, tv and even newspaper; backed by a team of well-equipped, motivated and well trained health officials. There is a huge drive to combat HIV/AIDS in AFRica; we need the sae (if not greater) drive to tackle the other diseases too. With charities like Doctors Without Borders, Bill gates’ foundation, etc giving precious resource and tie to AFRica, we need to make use of their help by being proactive rather than just reactive on the fight against disease. Sometimes all it takes to detect these life threatening diseases, infections, etc, is the odd blood test, screening and a general check-up. So this Movember, grow a mo and grow enough guts to have your health checked, gentlemen of AFRica.
Our aim is to create awareness, which will inspire action, which will result in change; change in attitudes, change in patterns and hopefully change in the mortality rates of AFRican men.