Territory men 3.5 times more likely to die young, Movember Institute of Men’s Health finds

Are you a man who lives in Solomon or Lingiari? Here’s why you’re significantly more likely to die young than your mates down in Sydney.

Darwin-based Flinders University professor James Smith says 'men in the NT are dying earlier, often from preventable health concerns'. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Men living in the Northern Territory are more than 3.5 times more likely to die young than those living in inner city Sydney, alarming new research has found.

The research released by the Movember Institute of Men’s Health on Monday reveals the electorate of Lingiari, which encompasses most of the NT, has the highest premature mortality rate of anywhere in Australia.

The researchers found that “where men live is an alarmingly significant indicator of how long they live”.

“Men in the Lingiari electorate, covering 95 per cent of the area of the Northern Territory, are, on average, over 3.5 times more likely to die prematurely than men living in Bradfield, inner metropolitan Sydney, NSW, where men have the longest life expectancy of any Australian electorate,” the report concludes.

While the report focuses on Lingiari, Darwin-based Flinders University professor James Smith said the picture was likely to be similar in the Territory’s other federal electorate of Solomon.

“If you look at the NT as a whole you will find that we’re in the top 20 per cent of risk in Australia when it comes to men’s health so that means its very consistent across Lingiari and Solomon as well,” he said.

“Men in the NT are dying earlier, often from preventable health concerns.”

Prof Smith said the Territory’s large Indigenous population was one factor behind the high premature death rate, along with its remoteness and relative disadvantage.

“What that means is we need to invest in health promotion and preventive health projects that are quite tailored and targeted to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men, men in rural and remote locations and men from low socio-economic backgrounds,” he said.

Heat map of age standardised rate of male premature mortality by commonwealth electoral division. Picture: Movember Institute of Men's Health

“We need to be looking at it from a systems perspective to see how we can best support all men, but particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and men from rural and remote backgrounds, better to engage with health services and the health system at earlier stages and engage in preventive health practices that are going to keep them out of hospitals longer term.”

Prof Smith said the Movember institute had funded research at Flinders to create an online social and emotional wellbeing education and support program for young Aboriginal men.

“That’s shown that the engagement with those young men has been absolutely critical for giving them an opportunity to open up and talk about their health and wellbeing in a safe and culturally responsive space,” he said.

“We’ve also been involved in some other research projects relating to Indigenous social and emotional wellbeing in other communities across the NT, including some in East Arnhem Land and Daly River.

“We’ve got a number of researchers in our team that have been working hand-in-hand on codesign processes with those communities to identify what will work best in their context.”