November = Movember.
Movember is an annual event that includes the growing of mustaches during November to raise awareness of men’s health issues, including respiratory diseases, depression and cancer. This has been a tradition since 2003. It originated in Australia, specifically Adelaide, but soon became a world wide event. The goal of Movember is to ‘change the face of men’s health’.
The aim is to increase the rate of early cancer detection, diagnosis and effective treatments, and in time reduce the number of deaths. The Movember Foundation has raised over 837 million dollars so far.
The History of Movember
In a news report, members of the Adelaide-based “Movember Committee” explained how they came up with the idea for Movember one night in a pub. The group started with 80 men from Adelaide.
In 2004, an unrelated group in Melbourne organised an event where 30 men would grow a moustache for 30 days in order to raise awareness for men’s health. (This is the tradition that people now follow every year). In 2005, about 500 people raised over $40,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. Later this group became the Movember Foundation charity.
Movember has become a popular event around the world and is doing very well.
And to think it all started with a group of men in a pub!
By Sophie Gervasi
