Letter to the editor: Men’s health needs funding

As Orange County discusses its budget, I believe residents should ask a simple question:Is it okay for our local government to fund many important health priorities while men’s health has no dedicated line item?

This is not about taking funding away from women’s health, children’s health, mental health, cancer programs, or any other important cause. Those programs matter and should continue to be supported.

I am simply asking why men’s health cannot receive meaningful support as well.

For me, this issue is deeply personal.

I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent surgery in 2020. I believed that chapter of my life was over.

Then, in November 2024, I learned my prostate cancer had returned. By May 2025, I was going through treatment again.

That experience changed how I look at survivorship. Cancer does not simply end when treatment ends. It can return. Survivors need continued monitoring, education, support, and access to care.

Orange County created a Men’s Health Committee, which was an important first step. But without dedicated funding, staffing, and resources, it is extremely difficult to build sustainable programs for prevention, early detection, mental health, cancer awareness, and survivorship.

A proclamation is recognition.

A committee is a beginning.

But a budget is commitment.

Men are fathers, husbands, sons, brothers, veterans, first responders, taxpayers, coworkers, and neighbors.

Their lives matter too.

So I am asking Orange County residents to weigh in: Should men’s health have a dedicated place in our County budget? This should never be men versus women or one health issue against another. It should be about making sure our public-health priorities truly include everyone.

Luis Abramson
Chair, Orange County Men’s Health Committee
Founder, Cultivating Healing and Justice Initiative Support Services Inc.
Middletown