The members supporting the movement have so far raised an amount of SGD 10,000, to be used to tackle three of the biggest health issues among men-prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health & suicide prevention.
Men, on average, die 6 years earlier than women! Still, health policy-makers and healthcare providers tend to ignore health problems such as prostate and testicular cancer, and mental health issues that lead to suicide among men.
As an attempt to raise awareness of the state of men’s health, Commvault, a global leader in enterprise backup, recovery, archive and the cloud, participated in the annual Movember campaign this year.
November is an annual movement started in Australia and every year it sees men taking action by growing moustaches and beards, for 30 days to raise awareness and funds.
With a growing number of over 40 members from countries such as Australia, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Korea, donations have been pouring in and have reached the SGD10,000 (Rs 479,965) mark, and the figure continues to climb steadily.
“Movember is a great initiative that tackles men’s health on a global scale, and Commvault is proud to be able to support this great cause as part of the communities in which we live and operate“, says Owen Taraniuk, Theatre Vice-President, AsiaPacific & Japan at Commvault.
“On a personal note, my motivation for joining is because I know that globally, the rate of suicide is alarmingly high, particularly in men. Too many men are ‘toughing it out’, keeping their feelings to themselves and struggling in silence. The Movember Foundation is aiming to reduce the rate of male suicide by 25 percent by 2030, and I want to be a part of helping them to get there,” Taraniuk adds.
Not to be outdone, the women of Commvault also support the campaign in their own unique way – by getting moustaches painted on their nails! “It’s a fun and special way of showing solidarity with the men,” says Jezmynn Koh, Director ofCommunications, Asia Pacific. “We are proud to work as one team to tackle men’s health issues, to create change and empower them to feel confident to take action for their health“.
Since the founding of the Movember Foundation in 2003, more than 1,200 men’s health projects around the world have been funded, including the Singapore Cancer Society Prostate Cancer Survivorship Programme, the Research Protocol for Exercise as Medicine for Men with Prostate Cancer in Hong Kong, and the Prostate Cancer Specialist Nursing Service in Australia.
Seeing that there is such enthusiasm to support this worthy cause among staff members, Commvault is pleased to announce that we are matching all donations dollar for dollar. Do join us as we do our part for a great cause, and follow our progress on our APAC Dragons – Commvault page!
