International Society For Men's Health & Gender

The International Society for Men's Health & Gender (ISMH) is an international, multidisciplinary, worldwide organization, dedicated to the rapidly growing field of sex- and gender-specific medicine. Its goal is to increase health professionals' awareness of sex- and gender-specific medicine and of men's health. Since its foundation in 2001, the ISMH has developed into a worldwide scientific network of physicians and other professionals in the field of public health, gender medicine and social sciences and presents a unique and innovative opportunity for global information, experience exchange and education in the field of men's health.

The ISMH's Vision
The ISMH's vision is
 * to create an international network of health professionals and organizations.
 * to foster awareness of men's developmental sex- and gender-specific health issues.
 * to attain the highest level of health and quality of life for all men through collaboration with other organizations.
 * to provide a forum for scientific and public, international and national initiatives for men's health.
 * to offer sophisticated online and offline continuing medical education.
 * to become the first truly medical virtual society.

The ISMH's Goals
The ISMH's goals are
 * to create an international network of health professionals and organizations.
 * to promote cooperation among scientific and professional groups, organizations and individuals willing to increase awareness of men's health and investigate, treat and prevent men's illnesses.
 * to foster the translation of gender- and sex-specific research outcomes into practice.
 * to promote interest and online and offline education in all matters relating to men's health.
 * to initiate research on men's health with respect to sex, gender, ethnic and racial disparities and to develop target interventions strategies.
 * to promote research on men's health (epidemiology, basic research, public health, clinical and gender medicine).
 * to provide an authoritative men's health information resource center.
 * to develop scenarios focusing on plausible futures.

The ISMH's Activities
The ISMH regularly organizes international conferences on men's health topics all over the world. Every second year, the ISMH is responsible for the set-up of The World Congress on Men's Health & Gender (WCMH) which is intended to serve as a knowledge transfer forum for practitioners and scientists in the fields of gender-based medicine. The next World Congress on Men's Health will be held in September 2007 in Vienna.

In cooperation with Elsevier, the ISMH publishes The Journal of Men's Health & Gender (jmhg), an international, inter-disciplinary journal offering updates on practise issues, current research and policy matters covering all aspects of men's health and gender medicine. The jmhg is a comprehensive, accessible resource of knowledge directly applicable to the daily care of patients, and offers key information and insights about men's health and gender medicine to other healthcare professionals, men's health and other organisations, patient groups and policy makers.

Currently, the ISMH is working on the development of a sophisticated tool for eContinuing Medical Education. With this extensive eLearning-tool, the ISMH approaches its vision to become the first virtual community of physicians interested in gender-based medicine.

The ISMH cooperates with organizations all over the world, among them are, the International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM), the European Society for Sexual Medicine (ESSM), the Austrian Society for Sexual Medicine (ASSM) and the International Men's Health Week.