Cuidar-se é uma forma de garantir força, autonomia e qualidade de vida
Across more than 200 countries, men consistently die younger than women — not primarily because of biology, but because of a quiet, persistent refusal to seek care. Research from Southern Denmark University, published in PLOS Medicine, confirms that this gap is cultural as much as it is medical, rooted in beliefs that equate vulnerability with weakness and self-neglect with strength. In Brazil, where men live nearly seven fewer years than women on average, the pattern is especially visible: the very years when preventive care matters most are the years men are least likely to seek it. The cost is not only personal — it is a measurable, preventable erosion of human life.
- Men aged 20 to 59 — precisely when chronic conditions take silent root — are the least likely to visit a doctor, allowing diseases like hypertension and diabetes to advance undetected until they become fatal.
- In Brazil, men accounted for 70.7 percent of HIV cases registered between 2007 and 2024, a figure that reflects not just exposure but a systemic failure of prevention and early engagement with healthcare.
- Fear of specific procedures, particularly the rectal exam, and the deeper dread of discovering illness keep men away from consultations — trading minutes of discomfort for months of aggressive late-stage treatment.
- Urologist Eufanio Saqueti finds that when partners attend appointments alongside male patients, treatment adherence improves significantly, revealing that connection and collaboration can dissolve the isolation that silence creates.
- Blue November, now a global movement with institutional backing in Brazil since 2011, is slowly reframing the narrative: that choosing preventive care is not a concession to weakness, but an act of autonomy and self-determination.
Across more than 200 countries, men die younger than women — and a study from Southern Denmark University, published in PLOS Medicine, has confirmed that biology is only part of the explanation. The deeper cause is behavioral: men avoid the doctor, and the consequences accumulate quietly until they become irreversible.
In Brazil, the numbers are unambiguous. Last year, 82.3 percent of women saw a physician, compared to just 69.4 percent of men. By 2023, that behavioral gap had translated into years of life: women's average life expectancy reached 79.7 years, men's only 73.1. The avoidance is sharpest between the ages of 20 and 59 — the decades when work and social pressure feel most urgent, and when a man is most likely to convince himself he has no time, or no need, for routine care. Chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes go undetected longer in men, making fatal complications — heart attacks, strokes — more likely. Between 2007 and 2024, men represented 70.7 percent of Brazil's registered HIV cases, a figure shaped in part by the same avoidance of prevention and testing.
Urologist and professor Eufanio Saqueti, who sees this pattern daily in his practice, describes it not as stubbornness but as a kind of negligence born from routine — men telling themselves they feel fine, that there is nothing wrong. Beneath that, he identifies something more structural: a belief that illness signals weakness, that seeking care means losing control. The fear of specific procedures, particularly the rectal exam, keeps many men away from consultations entirely. Saqueti is direct in response: the exam, when needed, takes minutes and is increasingly replaced by blood tests and imaging. The real danger is not the procedure — it is the advanced stage at which disease is finally found, when options narrow and outcomes worsen.
The path forward, Saqueti argues, requires more than individual resolve. Healthcare systems must rebuild trust with male patients, design campaigns that speak to men's actual concerns, and optimize the time spent in consultation. One finding stands out: men managing sexual health issues show markedly better treatment adherence when their partners attend appointments with them. Shared presence transforms a solitary burden into a collaborative one.
Blue November — born in Australia in 2003 as men growing mustaches to open conversations about prostate cancer, arriving in Brazil in 2008 — has become a global platform for exactly this kind of reframing. Its message, now carried through an entire month of awareness, is simple and still necessary: health-seeking is not weakness. It is the choice to remain present, capable, and alive for the years ahead.
Across more than 200 countries, men die younger than women. The gap is measurable, consistent, and now well understood. A study from Southern Denmark University, published in PLOS Medicine, has confirmed what many suspected: men are getting sicker and dying sooner not because of biology alone, but because they avoid the doctor.
In Brazil, the numbers tell a stark story. Last year, 82.3 percent of women visited a physician, while only 69.4 percent of men did. By 2023, the gap had widened into years: women's average life expectancy stood at 79.7 years, men's at 73.1. That six-year difference compounds across a lifetime. The research shows the avoidance is sharpest among men aged 20 to 59—the years when work and social demands feel most pressing, when a man might convince himself he has no time for routine checkups.
The consequences are not abstract. Chronic diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes affect both sexes, but men are more likely to suffer fatal complications—heart attacks, strokes—because these conditions go undetected longer. HIV tells a particularly grim story: between 2007 and 2024, 70.7 percent of Brazil's registered cases occurred in men. Prevention could have changed some of those numbers. Early detection could have changed others.
Eufanio Saqueti, a urologist and medical professor at Centro Universitário Integrado in Paraná, sees this pattern in his practice daily. He describes it not as mere cultural stubbornness but as a kind of negligence born from the daily rush—men telling themselves they feel fine, that there's no time, that nothing is wrong. Women, he observes, tend to maintain a more deliberate attention to their own health. But there is something deeper at work too. Many men, Saqueti says, carry a distorted belief that illness signals weakness, that seeking care means losing autonomy. The opposite is true. Early intervention preserves life and prevents the very complications that rob a man of independence.
Fear operates as a barrier. The Danish study identified specific anxieties: dread of the rectal examination, worry about discovering an unexpected disease. Saqueti addresses these directly. The rectal exam, when necessary, takes minutes and is increasingly replaced by blood tests and imaging. The real danger is not the brief discomfort of a procedure but the advanced stage at which disease is finally discovered, when treatment options narrow and outcomes worsen. A man might avoid the doctor for years to escape five minutes of embarrassment, then face months of aggressive treatment because the disease was caught too late.
The solution requires more than individual willpower. Saqueti emphasizes the need to rebuild trust between doctors and male patients, to optimize the time spent in consultation, to design campaigns that speak directly to men's concerns rather than lecturing them. One unexpected finding from his work: men dealing with sexual health issues show better treatment adherence when their partners attend appointments with them. The presence of a partner transforms the conversation from isolation into collaboration, suggesting that male health need not be a solitary burden.
The Blue November movement, which began in Australia in 2003 as a simple act—men growing mustaches to spark conversations about prostate cancer—arrived in Brazil in 2008 and took root. By 2011, it had a name and institutional backing. Today it runs through the entire month, a global reminder that men need regular checkups, preventive exams, healthy habits, and attention to mental health alongside physical care. The message is slowly shifting: health-seeking is not weakness. It is strength. It is the choice to remain autonomous, capable, and present for the years ahead.
Citações Notáveis
Many men avoid care because of the daily rush and a false sense that they are well, while women maintain greater attention to their own health— Eufanio Saqueti, urologist and medical professor
Seeking early care preserves quality of life and prevents future complications—the opposite of weakness— Eufanio Saqueti
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why do you think men have such a hard time going to the doctor, even when the data is so clear about what happens when they don't?
It's not one thing. There's the practical pressure—work, family, the sense that there's no time. But underneath that is something about how men are taught to think about their bodies. Illness feels like failure. Asking for help feels like admitting you're not in control.
But that's irrational. The data shows men who avoid care end up losing control much faster.
Completely irrational. And yet it persists. The fear of certain procedures—the rectal exam, for instance—becomes this symbol of something larger. It's not really about the exam. It's about vulnerability.
So how do you change that? You can't just tell men to be rational.
You have to meet them where they are. Build trust with doctors. Make the conversation less clinical and more human. And interestingly, when partners are involved—when a man isn't facing this alone—the resistance drops significantly.
That's striking. So the solution isn't just medical. It's relational.
Exactly. Health becomes something you do with someone, not something you do to yourself. That changes the whole frame.
And campaigns like Blue November—do they actually move the needle?
They're starting to. But the gap between awareness and behavior is still wide. Men know they should go to the doctor. Most still don't, not regularly. The real shift will come when seeking care becomes as normal for men as it is for women.