Men’s Health Workgroup

Mission: Engage men in timely screening and early detection of cancers, particularly prostate cancer.

Cancer affects all populations, but not all populations equally. Cancer health disparities are adverse differences between certain population groups in cancer measures such as incidence (higher rates of new diagnosis), mortality (deaths), survivorship and after-cancer treatment, burden of cancer or health related conditions, screening rates and stage at diagnosis.

Populations groups can be characterized by gender, sexual identity, race, ethnicity, geographic location, income, education, and other socioeconomic factors.

Men have higher rates of getting and dying from cancer than women. In Pennsylvania, the lifetime risk of dying from cancer is 1 in 7 for men compared to 1 in 5 for women (PA Cancer Registry, 2018). In 2020, 20% of Pennsylvania adult males reported having no health care provider compared to 11% of adult women (BRFSS. 2020).

The five most common cancers among males are prostate, lung, colorectal, bladder and melanoma. Cancer screening is available for prostate, lung and colorectal cancers. There are ways to lower the risk for all five by making healthy choices. To learn more about Cancer and Men, check out CDC's page on Cancer and Men.

The Men’s Health Workgroup was created to leverage combined Cancer Coalition and community resources to identify barriers and determinants to men’s health, and to use this knowledge to increase awareness of preventable health problems, implement evidence-based initiatives which increase the number of men who have a medical home, and increase cancer screening and early detection and treatment of diseases, including cancer, among men.

Meeting Notes

For questions or inquiries, contact
Patrick Loftus at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.