Greetings. The month of November is dedicated towards raising awareness about the state of men's health, culminating in the International Men's Day on the 18th. In these modern times a key focus is placed on the awareness of prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention. By contrast, the women's month of March is dedicated towards focusing on celebrating the achievements of women and the strides still to be made to uplift women in all spheres of women. There are several statistics brought to light where women are still behind their male counterparts; income, education attainment, career advancement, participation in government, etc. However, there is one statistic that stands out where men lag behind the fairer sex; life expectancy.
Life expectancy is an estimation of the average number of years a person is expected to live. Increases in life expectancy have been found to yield significant increments in population as well as a "small positive effect on GDP."
The most recent figures from World Bank place the life expectancy for Uganda at 62.973 years for 2018. Over the course of 58 years (1960-2018), the life expectancy in Uganda rose by 28 years; an average increase of 4 extra months on individual life expectancy per annum. In that period, the statistic has been on an upward trend except for the period between 1981 and 1995, where it declined steadily, hitting an all-time low of 43.824 years. Some factors that could be attributed to this include the war between the NRA rebels and the government of 1980-1985, the emergence of the AIDS scourge in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. The data seems to suggest AIDS affected the life expectancy more than Idi Amin's reign of terror!
 |
| Source: World Bank |
When comparing the life expectancy between the genders over the course of 58 years, the average male life expectancy in Uganda is below that of females by 4.15 years. This is not unique to Uganda. Across her regional neighbours, the average life expectancy is higher in females than in males, with differences ranging from 2.70 (Rwanda) to 4.19 (Kenya). The global gap is between six to eight years.
|
Country |
2018
Life Expectancy |
Average
Male Life Expectancy (1960-2018) |
Average
Female Life Expectancy (1960-2018) |
Gap |
|
Uganda |
62.973 |
48.04 |
52.19 |
4.15 |
|
Kenya |
66.342 |
53.77 |
57.96 |
4.19 |
|
Tanzania |
65.015 |
49.90 |
53.06 |
3.16 |
|
Rwanda |
68.70 |
47.09 |
49.99 |
2.90 |
|
South Sudan |
57.604 |
42.79 |
45.49 |
2.70 |
|
Burundi |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Sub-Saharan Africa |
61.257 |
48.38 |
51.48 |
3.1 |
In his 2016 article, Shmerling listed some factors that explain the reason men die earlier than their female counterparts. Primarily men take bigger risks, what he attributed to "biological destiny" i.e. the frontal lobe - in charge of judgement and consideration of consequences - in males develops much slower than in females, and as a result men partake in detrimental lifestyles at a higher risk than women.
Secondly, men die of heart disease more often and at a younger age than women i.e. lower oestrogen levels in males may contribute to this as well as unfavourable cholesterol and high blood pressure. Further more, men being on average bigger than women works against the former; larger animals tend to die younger than smller ones.
Perhaps the most striking reasons were men committing more suicides than women, men being less socially connected than women, and men avoiding doctors/ skipping routine health screens at a higher rate than women. The former two reasons point towards the mental health in men; people with less social connections are more susceptible to depression and that same category is more likely to commit suicide.
On the issue of men skipping routine health checks, a 2013 study, led by Makerere's Dr. Haawa Nakandi, on the incidence of prostate cancer in Uganda can shade more light on this. Despite 65% of men being susceptible to prostate cancer, only 22.9% considered getting a test to confirm. The number that actually got a test was even lower, at only 3.5%. The attitude towards the illness also doesn't help, as indicated in the excerpt below,
When one of the participants was asked if he had ever considered going for prostate cancer screening, he tensely asked, “For what?” and another young man in his twenties replied “But that cancer is for old men and we are still young, so why should we waste time and money going for checkups?”
What can be done?
Shmerling asserts that these factors are mainly behavioural and can be modified. All men should make an effort to go for routine health checks, exercise regularly and keep in touch with their friends.
A key downside to getting tested for prostate cancer revolved around availability of information. Dr. Nakandi and her team did recommend a rollout of community based health education programs. Given the ethnic diversity in this country, these programs can be in a wide range of the native languages. This will help scale back the misconceptions and lack of knowledge about men's health issues.
As for the issue regarding the growth of the frontal lobe in the brain, I think Mukama Nayamba could have an ingredient that can boost it. We could be sitting on a gold mine there.
As you prepare to let go of your Mo, be a good lad and watch your health.
Ceteris. Paribus.
P.S.
MILESTONE: This is the 25th blogpost on Stupid Economics. It took two years to get to the quarter century mark; that's an average of 1 article per month. And I've not yet delivered the article on why the price of rolex/kikomando never goes up, as promised in the inaugural post! Clearly gakyali mabaga![1]
References
Acemoglu, D., & Johnson, S. (2007). Disease and development: the effect of life expectancy on economic growth. Journal of Political Economy, 115(6), 925-985.
Feenstra, R. C., Inklaar, R., & Timmer, M. P. (2015). The next generation of the Penn World Table. American Economic Review, 105(10), 3150-82
Nakandi, H., Kirabo, M., Semugabo, C., Kittengo, A., Kitayimbwa, P., Kalungi, S., & Maena, J. (2013). Knowledge, attitudes and practices of Ugandan men regarding prostate cancer. African Journal of Urology, 19(4), 165-170.
Shmerling, R. (2016). Why men often die earlier than women. Boston: Harvard Health. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-men-often-die-earlier-than-women-201602199137
White, A., & Holmes, M.(2006). Patterns of mortality across, 44, 15-44.
