Movember (the month formerly known as November) is an annual charity event held during November.

At the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. The Movember participants, known as Mo Bros, have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their Mo, raising money along the way to benefit men's health - specifically prostate cancer.  

Movember culminates at the end of the month at official Gala Partés, Mo-Office and Mo-Town parties, where Tom Selleck and Borat look-a-likes battle it out for their chance to be the Man of Movember.

While growing a Mo is left to the guys, Mo Sistas (ladies who support their guys or just love Mo's!) form an important part of Movember by recruiting Mo Bros, helping to raise funds and attending the highly anticipated Gala Parties.

But it's not all fun and games, so why the extreme behaviour?

Which ever way we look at it, men are far less healthy than women.  The average life expectancy of a man in New Zealand is 4 years less than a woman. 

The obvious question is why?

Men lack awareness about the very real health issues they face. There is an attitude that they have to be tough - "a real man" - and are reluctant to see a doctor about an illness or go for regular medical checks.

Movember aims to change these attitudes and make men's health fun by putting the Mo back on the face of New Zealand men in support of two critically important causes:

Men's depression in proud partnership with the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand's 'Out of the Blue' campaign - because 1 in 10 men experience depression during their lifetime but most don't seek help.  Depression is a known high risk factor for suicide which, unfortunately ranks New Zealand with the fourth highest rate of suicide per capita. [ FIND OUT MORE ]

Prostate cancer in proud partnership with the Cancer Society of New Zealand - because every year in New Zealand 2,700 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and about 600 die of the disease, making prostate cancer the second largest cause of male cancer deaths, after lung cancer. [ FIND OUT MORE ]

We challenge you to change the face of men's health.

Check out Movember 2007 photos [ HERE ]