By Glen Poole, Helping Men Director and UK Co-ordinator for International Men’s DayOne of the international roles that Helping Men plays is to help set the annual theme for International Men’s Day which is celebrated in more than 70 countries around the world each year on 19th November.
We also invite and encourage people all over the UK to use International Men’s Day on Tuesday 19th November 2013 as a platform to help you with your work improving the lives of men and boys in the UK.
The theme for this year’s International Men’s Day is ‘Keeping Men and Boys Safe’. The first time I typed the phrase ‘keeping men safe’ into google in 2010 in came back with the question “do you mean ‘keeping women safe’?” which made we consider how differently we might be treating men and women when it comes to taking are of their safety and wellbeing.
People all over the world are used to relating to men as protectors and providers, but how often do we consider the actions we can all take to protect Men and boys from harm and provide them with a safe world where they can thrive and prosper?
In the run up to International Men’s Day (19 November 2013) we are asking supporters of the day to focus on five key challengers that will help create a better world for everyone by Keeping Men and Boys Safe:
1. Keeping Men And Boys Safe By Tackling Male Suicide
2. Keeping Boys Safe So They Can Become Tomorrow’s Role Models
3. Tackling Our Tolerance Of Violence Against Men And Boys
4. Boosting Men’s Life Expectancy By Keeping Men And Boys Safe From Avoidable Illness And Death
5. Keeping Men And Boys Safe By Promoting Fathers And Male Role Models
To read more about why this 5 challenges are important see: Helping Men Blog Post On International Men’s Day
Glen Poole is UK co-ordinator for International Men's Day, Director at the consultancy Helping Men and news editor of insideMAN magazine. Follow him on twitter @HelpingMen or find out more about his work at www.helpingmen.co.uk.
Men's News From Brighton & Hove, England 
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