November is Movember, the month men grow moustaches to get other men talking about their health. The Movember charity focuses on prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention. In Kenya, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and the one that kills the most of them: the latest estimates (GLOBOCAN 2024) count 3,601 new cases a year, about a quarter of all cancers in Kenyan men.
Old boys’ associations already have what Movember needs most: the men, together in one WhatsApp group, who have known and trusted each other since they were teenagers. Here is a simple plan for the month.
One message a week, all month
Week 1: book the check-up
Movember starts today. One ask from your [School] brothers: book the check-up you have been putting off. Reply “done” when you have.
Week 2: ask about prostate testing
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Kenyan men. Kenya’s screening guidelines say men of African descent can start talking to their doctor about a PSA test from age 40. Ask yours at your next visit. Trouble passing urine, or blood in your urine or semen? Don’t wait: see a doctor now.
Week 3: check on the quiet one
Is there someone in this group we have not heard from in a while? Call him this week. Not a message, a call.
Week 4: share one thing you did
Last Movember message: tell the group one thing you did for your health this month. It might be the push someone else needs.
A health talk, not a PSA screening camp
Invite a doctor from among your members, or from a partner hospital, to give a 30-minute online talk on prostate health and on what a PSA test can and cannot tell you. Kenya’s 2024 cancer screening guidelines recommend PSA testing as a decision each man makes with his own doctor, not mass screening, so the talk should prepare men for that conversation. The guidelines also say rapid PSA test kits have no role in screening. Each man then books his own appointment.
Talk about mental health too
Movember also stands for mental health and suicide prevention. Men in their forties and fifties carry a lot quietly: jobs, school fees, ageing parents. Pin these contacts in your group so nobody has to look for them on a bad day:
- Befrienders Kenya (call, SMS or WhatsApp, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm): +254 722 178 177
- Kenya Red Cross toll-free line: 1199
- Emergency: 999 or 112
If someone is in danger now, don’t leave him alone: call 999 or 112, or get him to the nearest hospital.
Remind members the welfare fund is there
Cost keeps many men from check-ups, alongside fear. If your association has a welfare or medical fund, remind members how to ask for help, and keep every request confidential.
Alumnipad sends your association’s messages by email, SMS and WhatsApp, and keeps your welfare fund’s contributions and appeals in one place. You can start free with up to 50 members; SMS and WhatsApp come with paid plans.
Start free on Alumnipad · Follow Alumnipad on WhatsApp
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Sources: Movember; Global Cancer Observatory, Kenya fact sheet (GLOBOCAN 2024); Ministry of Health, National Cancer Screening and Early Diagnosis Guidelines (Second Edition, 2024); LifeLine International: Befrienders Kenya; Kenya Red Cross. This post is general information, not medical advice.