Government unveils England's first ever Men's Health Strategy

Launched on International Men’s Day, the first Men’s Health Strategy for England is being published today. The plan sets out comprehensive action to tackle the physical and mental health challenges men and boys face every day.

Suicide is one of the biggest killers of men under 50 and three quarters of all suicides are men. As part of this plan, the Government will invest £3.6 million over the next three years in suicide prevention projects for middle-aged men in local communities across areas of England where men are at most risk of taking their own lives, including some of the most deprived areas in the country. This comes on top of expanding mental health teams in schools to ensure an additional 900,000 pupils have access to support by April 2026.

The focus on suicide prevention includes a partnership on the Premier League’s Together Against Suicide initiative with the Samaritans, which looks to help tackle the stigma around men’s mental health and embed health messaging into the matchday experience. 

Men with prostate cancer will also benefit from improved care through the strategy, including the development of home prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing for those being monitored for the disease. From 2027, subject to clinical approval, men diagnosed with prostate cancer which is being actively monitored or treated – will be able to order and complete PSA blood tests at home, or book an in-person blood test, locally, via the NHS App.  

Other key commitments in the Men’s Health Strategy include: 

• Investing £3 million into community-based men’s health programmes, designed to reach those most at risk and least likely to engage with traditional services
• Men’s health training for healthcare professionals through new e-learning modules and resources
• Workplace health pilots with EDF Energy through the Keep Britain Working Vanguard Programme to support male workers in male-dominated industries
• Enhanced lung disease support for former miners, with increased investment in the Respiratory Pathways Transformation Fund in areas with significant former mining communities
• Funding research to help prevent, diagnose, treat and manage the major male killers and causes of unhealthy life years in men
• A £200,000 trial of new brief interventions to target the rise in cocaine and alcohol-related CVD deaths, particularly among older men 

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Source: Department of Health and Social Care (19 November 2025)