This week is Men's Health Awareness Week (15-21 June 2026)

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) Screening

AAA screening is offered to men aged 65 and for most involves a one-off ultrasound scan of the abdomen.

Our AAA Screening Annual Report (March 2026) shows encouraging participation, with around 31,000 men attending their appointment last year. An abdominal aortic aneurysm often has no symptoms, but if left undetected it can be life-threatening. Read the full report here:  Scottish Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) screening programme statistics - Year ending 31 March 2025 - Scottish Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) screening programme statistics - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

To promote this programme and to continue its success, there are a number of assets available here including static and video assets including a ‘what to expect’ video.

The video is also available in a range of other languages.

Bowel Screening

Bowel screening is the only national screening programme where the test is done at home. It aims to find cancer at an earlier stage, before symptoms occur, when treatment is likely to be more effective. Bowel cancer is one of the most common cancers in Scotland. The uptake of screening is lower in men (63%) than it is in women (68%).

Calling all local eligible men, let's even this out!

Smoking

In Scotland, 18% of men now smoke compared to 13.3% of women, and men continue to be less likely to seek support to quit.  But why?

On average, male smokers also consume slightly more cigarettes per day (12.8) than female smokers (12), reinforcing the continued impact on men’s health. While many people are trying to quit, women still outnumber men in attempts to stop smoking, highlighting an ongoing gap in engagement among men.

Smoking is one of the single largest preventable causes of premature death and ill health in Scotland. It causes over 8,000 smoking-related deaths every year in Scotland and is responsible for over 40,000 hospital admissions.

Quit Your Way, Scotland’s stop smoking service encourages men to reach out for support to go smoke-free - try them today!

See also your local Stop smoking service

Look at your lifestyle

Lifestyle medicine aims to prevent, treat, and even reverse chronic illnesses across all stages of life by recognising that often you yourself are the key to these changes.

The approach works by providing you with the knowledge and tools to manage your own health. The key areas (which are sometimes referred to as pillars) of lifestyle medicine include:

• Healthy eating
• Being physically active
• Improving sleep quality
• Managing stress effectively
• Maintaining healthy relationships
• Avoiding harmful substances

Lifestyle medicine also considers wider influences on your health, such as social and economic factors, and uses proven techniques to help you make and sustain these changes over time.

See our Lifestyle Medicine section for information, links and podcasts.

Vaccination schedule

Are you up to date with your vaccines?. Whether at home this summer or travelling abroad make sure that you have had your vaccines.  You can find out more on our Immunisation pages.