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Article Outline

• Men's Health ‘East meets West’
• Shaping the field: ISMH Academic Network and jmh
• Why jmh?
• References
• Copyright

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The jmh has the honor in this issue to announce an exciting evolution in our partnership with the European Men's Health Forum. The EMHF joins the ISMH as a sponsor of the journal, making jmh the official publication of both associations.

This is a particularly meaningful development at a fortuitous time in the history of the men's health field. The imperative is before us to globalize our knowledge, approaches, and standards in order to improve the health of men and the well-being of communities. Cooperative endeavors such as our ISMH–EMHF partnership ensure that we use resources most efficiently, build upon strengths, and more widely disperse benefits among our membership groups and beyond. We welcome our long-time colleagues of the EMHF to a new level of collaboration with great warmth and expectation.

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Men's Health ‘East meets West’ 

It is encouraging to be able to provide an international forum for the discussion of men's health in Russia. Conversations that began in preparation for the Fifth World Congress on Men's Health and Gender led to a most innovative segment of the WCMH this past fall, and continued with the 2nd International Consultation, ‘Men's Health: East Meets West,’ during the International Congress on Reproductive Medicine in Moscow on January 23, 2008, and the editorial by A. Kamalov and colleagues in this issue of the jmh.

Topics have moved smoothly from language and geographic constraints on health awareness throughout Russia, to the health implications of rapid shifts in its political and economic structures, to the impact of incarceration and the difficulty of providing health care in prison. Not only is this an occasion for researchers and practitioners in the complex, rapidly changing Russian society to share their work, it is also an opportunity for the exchange of issues and perspectives that broaden and enrich the men's health field.

It is critical that the world community receives regular updates on Russia – on the status of men, on clinical research findings, and on the delivery of health services and clinical practice involving men. For instance, a thorough understanding of the precipitous decline in Russian male life expectancy that began in the 1990s will emerge only as we disseminate findings from medical, behavioral, and social investigations. Approaches to the treatment of conditions such as hypogonadism or erectile dysfunction in Russia make an important contribution to our overall understanding of the behavioral, attitudinal, and cultural factors involved in managing these conditions.

Contributions in this issue of the jmh on patterns in metabolic risk factors among men [1] and on prostate cancer and MRI [2] affirm the commonality of issues in the men's health field around the world. The Russian experience of studying Vardenafil efficacy [3], the pathogenic aspects of metabolic syndrome patients [4], and the challenges confronting the integration of men's health into the Russian medical pedagogical program and the health service delivery system [5] are instructive regarding the next-steps in the development of the men's health field.

There are many more such examples of the value that ISMH's engagement with Russian researchers has brought to the men's health field. As we look toward globalizing the field, we are pleased that this exciting exchange can serve as both model and standard.

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Shaping the field: ISMH Academic Network and jmh 

The ISMH has embarked upon an exciting new initiative to organize men's health researchers and institutions into a far-reaching and powerful network. The ISMH began, in late November 2007, to invite leading researchers, innovative academic departments, and cutting-edge clinical institutions from around the world to join our Men's Health Academic Network.

The Academic Network will take a uniquely global perspective on men's health concerns and will exert influence on research, health interventions, pedagogy, and social policy. Members will enjoy many benefits, including:

The Academic Network initiative is part of ISMH's ambitious organizational goal for 2008 to cultivate cooperative liaisons between medical societies and leading men's health researchers, practitioners, and advocates worldwide. This goal and our activities through 2008 acknowledge our certainty that only by global collaboration will we truly advance the field and raise the profile of men's health needs in critical policy and service domains.

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Why jmh? 

Readers will notice that the journal has revised its title to Journal of Men's Health from the previous Journal of Men's Health and Gender. While the shortened designation signals recognition and particular concern about the centrality of men's health to a number of issues, it in no way precludes consideration of the wide range of related questions. So, for instance, the discussion of gender – as other social, behavioral, attitudinal, cultural, and clinical phenomena – remains critically relevant and squarely within jmh's editorial purview.

We are also pleased to share yet another exciting development. The jmh editorial advisory structure has been organized according to topic areas or ‘sections,’ each headed by a world renowned leader in men's health. We are proud of the interdisciplinary and multinational makeup of our group of section editors as well as of the innovative domains they define. We look forward to the new organization streamlining the journal and shaping the field of men's health. The new section editors are:

Finally, we invite you to celebrate with us the journal's change in name as a sign of exciting times. The field of men's health is maturing and becoming increasingly authoritative. A coherent body of clinical, social, and pedagogical knowledge is emerging and will continue to develop, and our new name appropriately acknowledges men's health as a field in its own right.

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References 

1. Mamedov MN. Metabolic risk factors as a connecting link for men's health issues. jmh. 2008;5(1):18–22
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2. Alyaev YuG, Ternovoy SK, Bezrukov EA, Morozov SP. Prostate cancer: opportunities for magnetic resonance imaging. jmh. 2008;5(1):11–17
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3. Kamalov AA, Dorofeev SD, Efremov EA, Okhobotov DA, Panyushkin SM. The Russian experience of studying vardenafil efficacy and safety in men with erectile dysfunction of various aetiologies. jmh. 2008;5(1):36–41
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4. Mazo EB, Gamidov SI, Iremashvili VV, Gasanov RV. Pathogenetic aspects of erectile dysfunction in patients with the metabolic syndrome. jmh. 2008;5(1):42–47
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5. Kamalov AA, Apolikhin OI, Trapeznikova MF, et al. Prospects for the development of the ‘Men's Health’ program in Russia. jmh. 2008;5(1):8–10
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