Yesterday was dubbed Men's Health Day by Chinese medical experts
who used the opportunity to appeal to all men to pay more attention
to their reproductive health, which is usually ignored by them and
their partners.
Various public education activities were held around the country to
raise awareness and get both sexes thinking about protecting men's
health.
Due to the success of the day and to make Chinese people more
appreciative of men's health problems, especially potential
reproductive difficulties, October 28 each year will now be known
as Men's Health Day.
It
is perhaps a little known fact that men need to take more care than
women as their reproductive health is more fragile than that of
their partners, said Xiao Hong, director of the Shanghai Life
Science Information Center at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Statistics show about 25 per cent of Chinese men have a sexual
dysfunction or sexual psychological problem - and 10 per cent of
couples are sterile.
The incidence rate of many andro-diseases, such as prostate
diseases, sexual disabilities and poor-quality seminal fluid, is
showing an obvious increasing tendency in China, experts noted.
Sexually transmitted diseases have also started to threaten the
reproductive health of men, whose average age is six years less
than women.
World wide, an adult male's sperm count has decreased 50 per cent
compared with 100 years ago. About 40 per cent of men aged 50
suffer from a prostate disease of some sort.
(China
Daily October 29, 2002)