The Founder, Life After Abuse Foundation (LAAF), Halima Layeni, has asked the Federal and state governments to urgently establish Ministries of Men Affairs.

The men?s mental health advocate made the call in a Facebook post on Monday.

Layeni explained that these would serve as government institutions responsible for studying, funding, and responding to the emotional and psychological needs of men.

According to her, these ministries should lead national strategies on male suicide prevention, trauma recovery, responsible fatherhood, male focused therapy, and community reintegration after incarceration or abuse.

Layeni lamented that none of the 195 member nations of the United Nations has a ministry dedicated to men?s affairs but most have for women, youths and even pets.

She said, ?Across the world, from the richest cities to the poorest villages, millions of men are silently suffering.

?Their mental health is collapsing under the weight of unspoken pain, outdated gender norms, toxic expectations, and a global system that barely acknowledges they exist.

?Despite overwhelming data showing the dire state of men?s mental health, there is not a single country on Earth with a Ministry of Men Affairs. We have Ministries for Women. Ministries for Youth. For Children. Even for Pets in some countries.

?But when it comes to men, the system has nothing. Not one dedicated institution to track men?s trauma, depression, suicidal thoughts, loneliness, or identity crises.?

Quoting data from the World Health Organisation(2021), Layeni stated that over 700,000 people die by suicide every year, more than 70 percent of whom are men.

She stressed that men are three to seven times more likely to take their own lives compared to women in high income countries.

?In the United States alone, nearly 80 percent of all suicides are committed by men, with suicide ranking as the seventh leading cause of death for males according to the Centre for Chronic Disease Control (CCDC) in 2023.

?In low and middle income countries, where access to mental health care is already limited, male specific support is virtually nonexistent.

?We need Ministries of Men Affairs,? she stated.

Layeni further explained that the Ministries of Men Affairs should drive national data collection on boys? and men?s mental health and challenge harmful cultural narratives that silence men and shame vulnerability.

?A Ministry of Men Affairs is not just necessary, it?s overdue.

?Funding for gender-responsive, trauma-informed support systems for men is not charity, it?s fairness.

?Mental health policies must be inclusive or they will continue to be ineffective.

?True gender equity includes everyone. Ignoring the mental health needs of men does not help women thrive.

?It leaves them to raise broken boys, live with broken partners, and navigate broken homes.

?A gender equal world must be a mentally healthy world for men too,? she stated.

(Daily Sun)

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