I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 789 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish an Office of Men’s 
Health, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 31, 2007 
Mr. TOWNS (for himself, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. CONYERS, and Ms. LEE) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish an 
Office of Men’s Health, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Office of Men’s Health 
Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) INTRODUCTION.—Men’s health in the 
United States is in a state of crisis revealing a 
breadth of health inequities that warrant national 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:15 Feb 03, 2007
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H789.IH
H789
bajohnson on PROD1PC61 with BILLS
attention. This crisis has led to the need for an Of-
fice of Men’s Health within the Department of 
Health and Human Services that coordinates the de-
velopment of effective strategies and interventions 
designed to improve the health determinants as well 
as reduce and eliminate the widespread chronic dis-
eases and health conditions that negatively affect the 
health of American men. 
(A) According to Healthy People 2010, so-
cial determinants of health include education, 
housing, labor, justice, transportation, agri-
culture, and the environment. 
(B) Improving the social determinants that 
affect men’s health could substantially improve 
their health and well-being, as well as the 
health and well-being of their families and com-
munities over time. 
(2) WOMEN’S
HEALTH.—While the men’s 
health crisis concerns most if not all men, it also 
jeopardizes the lives of individuals in their families 
and social networks, particularly women. Women 
bear the direct and indirect caregiving burden for 
the family when male counterparts are unavailable 
due to declining health or premature death. Con-
sequently, women’s overall well-being and health are 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:15 Feb 03, 2007
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H789.IH
H789
bajohnson on PROD1PC61 with BILLS
threatened by conditions that compromise the health 
and shorten the lives of their male loved ones. 
(3) GENDER-RELATED HEALTH INEQUITIES.— 
Significant gender disparities exist in health that 
should be addressed to improve the overall health 
profile of the Nation. While the average life expect-
ancy for the general population is 77.9 years of age, 
women on average live six years longer than men. In 
some cases, the life expectancy for men is 20 years 
less than women, especially within communities of 
color. 
(A) Overall, men have higher death rates 
for the top 10 leading causes of death than 
women, including heart disease, cancer, chronic 
lower respiratory disease, unintentional injuries, 
suicide, chronic liver disease, homicide, and 
HIV/AIDS. 
(B) In addition, men have a cardiovascular 
disease death rate 1.5 times higher than 
women, a lung cancer mortality rate 1.8 times 
higher than women, and an HIV/AIDS death 
rate that is roughly 3 times higher than women. 
(C) Studies confirm that men are more 
likely than women to have less healthy life-
styles, less likely to seek and obtain needed 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:15 Feb 03, 2007
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H789.IH
H789
bajohnson on PROD1PC61 with BILLS
medical attention, more likely to engage in risky 
behaviors, and less likely to recognize the value 
of and adhere to preventive health care prac-
tices than women. 
(D) Men are at least 25 percent less likely 
than women to visit a doctor, and are signifi-
cantly less likely to have regular physician 
checkups and obtain preventive screening tests 
for serious acute and chronic diseases. 
(4) RACIAL
AND
ETHNIC
HEALTH
INEQUAL-
ITIES.—Racial and ethnic inequalities exist in men’s 
health with grave consequences for our most vulner-
able populations. 
(A) African American men have the high-
est incidence and mortality rates of many forms 
of cancer, have the highest levels of high blood 
pressure in the world, and are twice as likely as 
White men to have diabetes, thus detrimentally 
affecting their health status and dramatically 
reducing their life expectancy. 
(B) The life expectancy for African Amer-
ican men is not only the lowest among all men, 
but is lower than that for African American 
women. Black urban men have the shortest life 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:15 Feb 03, 2007
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H789.IH
H789
bajohnson on PROD1PC61 with BILLS