Addressing men's health policy concerns in Australia: what can be done?

There is a lack of consensus about what men\u27s health constitutes in Australia. The absence of a widely accepted definition has been problematic for establishing state and national men\u27s health policies. This paper considers that one impediment to the implementation of state and federal men\u27s health policies has been a lack of willingness to approach men\u27s health from a broad public health perspective. In particular, scant attention has been paid to exploring lay perspectives of how men define and understand health, and in turn, how these relate to significant policy problems such as men\u27s health service use. Smith concludes by suggesting that a focus on men\u27s lay perspectives of their health emerging from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland provides a useful framework to guide men\u27s health policy discussion in Australia