Celebrating International Men's Day 2025

UCD School of Medicine celebrated International Men's Day 2025 (19 November) with a special event focused on men’s physical and mental health.

The focus of International Men's Day 2025 was 'celebrating men and boys, positive role models, and men's health and wellbeing'. With over 40 staff and students attending, a short talk and panel discussion was facilitated by UCD School of Medicine’s Prof Bill Watson, accompanied by four brilliant speakers:

-          Prof David Galvin, UCD Consultant Urologist 

-          Martin Sweeney, IPCOR Lived Experience Advisory Panelist

-          Dr Paul D’Alton, UCD Clinical Psychologist

-          Dr Aisling McGrath, SETU co-author of the Real Face of Men’s Health Ireland report

The speakers discussed the importance of the environment, belonging and companionship and the event was supported by the UCD School of Medicine EDI Committee.

Prof David Galvin spoke about the importance of men having regularly scheduled health checks. He discussed the PRAISE-U study, which stands for PRostate cancer Awareness and Initiative for Screening in the European Union. UCD is pioneering a new pilot which is being supported by the Irish Society of Urology, the National Screening Service and Movember, which aims to transform how prostate cancer is detected.

Dr Aisling McGrath talked about statistics from ‘The Real Face of Men’s Health':

• In Ireland, two in five men die before they're 75. Most of these deaths are preventable, with men’s premature death rates 40% higher than women’s.
• 60% of informal caregivers report a decline in their own mental health while caring for the men in their lives.
• Men account for four in every five suicides in Ireland. 97% of GPs in our research treated male patients with suicidal thoughts in the past year.

Martin Sweeney mentioned that “a lot of Irish people feel that intimate topics cannot be discussed freely, but we need to normalise talking about these sort of things”.

Dr Paul D’Alton mentioned “making each encounter count” when checking in with friends and colleagues.

International Men’s Day is a day to check in, a day to reflect, and a day to be mindful.

Congratulations and thanks to all those involved.