Men's Health Management Alliance was officially established

China's first men's health management alliance covering all aspects of urology and andrology, clinical nutrition, exercise rehabilitation and psychological intervention was officially established in Beijing today. It is led by 12 experts including Professor Li Hanzhong from the Department of Urology of Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Professor Deng Chunhua, chairman of the Andrology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association. Jointly initiated by industry leaders, the core goal is to target the three long-term pain points in the past in the field of men's health: "shyness to seek medical treatment, fragmented diagnosis and treatment, and single intervention plan." In the next three years, it will be launched at grassroots service stations in 100 prefecture-level cities, and is expected to cover more than 20 million men of the right age.

To be honest, I have been going to the medical clinic for almost 6 years. When I heard this news, my first reaction was "Finally someone has taken care of this situation." Last week, I met a 32-year-old Internet programmer in the men's clinic. He had low androgen levels and mild ED. He had been struggling for almost a year. He first bought a few thousand "kidney-tonifying medicine" from a WeChat store, but it didn't work. Then he practiced squats with a fitness blogger for three months, and his symptoms disappeared. Fortunately, I suffered from a herniated disc in my waist. I finally couldn't bear it anymore so I registered for it without telling my wife. It was found that it was not a kidney problem at all, but rather damage to the vascular endothelium caused by staying up late and high blood lipids for a long time. Coupled with the anxiety caused by high performance pressure, supplements or exercise alone were of course useless.

This is actually a microcosm of the vast majority of men's health problems today: According to the 2023 survey data of the Chinese Medical Association, more than 47% of men aged 18-45 have varying degrees of reproductive health and sub-health problems, but the consultation rate in men's departments in regular hospitals is only 8.2%, and the rest are either forced to cope or find random remedies. It is not that there were no relevant associations or organizations before, but they were either purely clinical academics or the industrial side of health products, each doing their own thing, and even often quarreling with each other.

Interestingly, in the guest room of this inaugural ceremony, I saw not only clinical experts who usually publish papers in core journals, but also nutrition science bloggers who were scolded for their views on "eating oysters to supplement androgens", as well as personal trainers who work on men's fitness and rehabilitation. As we chatted, I realized that the previous groups of people really looked down on each other: the clinical group felt that those engaged in science popularization pretended to understand and dared to give recipes to any questions. ； Those who engage in lifestyle intervention feel that doctors are too aggressive and prescribe medicine for every problem. ； There are even scholars who do psychological intervention complaining about the first two groups, saying that half of the premature ejaculation problems are essentially anxiety, and they prescribe topical delaying drugs without even psychological evaluation, which treats the symptoms but not the root cause.

The core significance of the establishment of the alliance is actually to overcome the prejudices of these groups of people: in the future, you only need to go to the alliance's service station to do a full set of pathological investigations and rule out organic problems, and then professionals in nutrition, exercise, and psychology will jointly come up with a plan. Patients do not need to run back and forth in various departments, and there is no need to be embarrassed to repeat the same condition several times. During a private chat, Professor Li Hanzhong also said that he has been working as a clinician for 30 years and has seen too many young men come in with their medical records in hand and their faces turned red. They could not hold back a complete complaint for a long time. Some of them just stuffed the medical records into the soles of their shoes after seeing the doctor for fear of being seen by acquaintances. "When we build this alliance, the first thing we have to solve is not the problem of medical treatment at all, but the problem of making people dare to come to see the doctor."

Of course, this does not mean that all problems will be solved once the alliance is established. During the on-site discussion, some people also poured cold water: There is a huge gap in andrology diagnosis and treatment resources in the sinking market. Many hospitals in counties do not even have specialized andrology outpatient clinics. The training of grassroots doctors will take at least 1-2 years to keep up. ； There are also public misunderstandings that are too stubborn. When men's health is mentioned, the first reaction is to "tonify the kidneys" and "strengthen the yang". No one pays attention to serious science popularization, but vulgar folk remedies are spread everywhere. How to do the next science popularization without stepping on the red line, and making everyone willing to read and understand, is a matter that needs to be worked on slowly.

What impressed me most was the corner of the background board at the founding ceremony. Instead of any grand industrial goals, there was a line of small words written: "So that every man will not have to hide his medical records to see a doctor." When the show was over, I met a few young male doctors who gathered together to use Douyin. They said that they had applied for a popular science account and planned to make a short sitcom to act out the questions that everyone was usually embarrassed to ask. They had already thought of an account name and called it "The Antidote for Men's Hidden Words." Don't tell me, I'm really looking forward to it.