What do you know about the prostate?

If the answer's 'not much' then you're not alone. Here's a brilliantly simple idea from the European Men's Health Forum. Your Prostate is a website where you can ask questions about your prostate - peeing, sexual problems, disturbed sleep, supplements, cancer, anything at all. You can even ask what a prostate does. You'll get fast, free, confidential replies from specialist nurses and doctors.

By asking your question, you'll also be helping with a research project - and this is the bit that's so simple you wonder why nobody thought of it before - to find out what European men want to know about a subject we know we find it difficult to talk about. Yes, instead of doctors assuming they know what we want to know, this time they're asking us first. The results will be used by the EMHF to design some health education materials. To be effective though this project needs as many questions as possible so please, ask yours.

Questions and answers in English, Spanish and German so tell your friends across the world.

The public health white paper with little information for the public?

Version 2.
I realised Version 1 was strikingly similar to my post about the NHS white paper in the summer.

In that post I argued that there were few surprises but many gaps. I think we can say the same about Healthy lives, healthy people.

Combine the secretary of state’s various public health speeches, the coalition agreement and aspects of the NHS white paper with news coverage on Sunday and Monday and you are most of the way there. As the HSJ reports.

Then there seems to be a lot missing. Again, as the HSJ reports and as president of the Royal College of Physicians said in The Guardian.

What’s missing is how the state of men’s health will be tackled.

As well as transferring powers to councils and incentivising GPs we need to see policies and programmes that seek to address men’s health and support , not only for those devising and delivering this work but also for men themselves.