Menstrual Hygiene Day is today!

Menstrual Hygiene Day (MH Day in short) is today. It is an short annual awareness day celebrated on May 28 to highlight the importance of good menstrual hygiene management in biological females, inclusive of cisgender women and transgender men.

It was initiated by a German-based NGO known as WASH United in 2014 and has been tremendously successful over the years. It aims to benefit bleeding persons worldwide. WASH United is the overall global coordinator of MH Day and acts as its international secretariat.

The 28th was selected to acknowledge that 28 days is the average length of the menstrual cycle.

The Menstrual Hygiene Day is now a global advocacy platform that brings together the voices and actions of non-profits, government agencies, individual activists, the private sector and the media to promote good menstrual hygiene management for all biological females, including cisgender women and trans-identified men. It allows to break the silence, raise awareness and challenge the negative social norms stand around menstrual hygiene, and engage decision makers to increase the political priority to catalyse actions for menstrual hygiene management on global, national and local scales.

Poor menstrual hygiene, caused by a lack of education on sexual and reproductive health, persisting taboos and stigma, limited to hygienic menstrual products and poor sanitation infrastructure, undermines the educational opportunities, health and overall social status of women around the world. As a result, millions of persons including women and men, are kept quiet from reaching their fullest potential for their menstrual hygiene.

In low income countries, bleeding persons’ choice of menstrual hygiene materials are often limited by costs, apart from social stigma. Adequate sanitation facilities and access to female hygiene products are lacking within these countries. Developing a culture that welcomes open discussion for adequate education is of importance towards a such global issue.