International Menstrual Hygiene Day 2026

Facts & figures about MH Day and menstrual health & hygiene

About Menstrual Hygiene Day (MH Day)

• MH Day is celebrated annually on 28 May to symbolize the average length of the menstrual cycle (28) and duration of menstruation (5).
• It was initiated by WASH United and was first celebrated in 2014. WASH United is an award-winning non-profit based in Berlin/Germany, founded in 2011, with a focus on menstrual health and hygiene (MHH). WASH United focuses on strengthening the global MHH ecosystem by offering free, easy-to-use solutions for awareness, advocacy, and education, and engages in strategic advocacy throughout the year.

• The mission of the MH Day movement is to create a period-friendly world.

A period-friendly world is a world in which menstruation is accepted as a normal fact of life and is no longer stigmatised. It is a world in which everyone is educated about menstruation from an early age. In a period-friendly world, everyone has access to quality and affordable period products of their choice. Everyone has access to period-friendly toilets. And in a period-friendly world, menstrual health services are available to everyone. It is a world where no one is held back just because they menstruate. (MH Day mission)

• The impact of MH Day 2025: reach of 971 million people, 25,026 pieces of media coverage, 198,132 social media contributions, more than 2,000 events, and 1,350 partner organizations.

 
About Menstrual Health and Hygiene (MHH)

Global perspective of menstruation

• Globally, 2.1 billion adolescent girls and women menstruate. 
  (WHO/ UNICEF, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024. JMP, 2025)
• On any given day, approximately 375 million women and girls worldwide are menstruating. (Own calculation)

MHH-related challenges

• Number of persons in need: More than 500 million women do not have the resources and support that they need to manage their menstruation. 
  (Amaya L. et al., Advancing Gender Equity by Improving Menstrual Health. FSG, 2020)
• Period education: Globally, only around 2 out of 5 schools provide menstruation education. 
  (WHO/ UNICEF, Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools, 2015-2023. JMP, 2024)(MH Day mission)

1 of 3  April 2026                                         Continued ...                                       #PeriodFriendlyWorld 

Report: Hospital at Home for frailty ...

 .... Current situation and future potential

Report: Hospital at Home for frailty

The BGS has produced report on Hospital at Home services for older people. This explains how they are currently provided and how they might develop in the future as a key part of community-based healthcare. The report is endorsed by the UK Hospital at Home Society.

Hospital at Home is a safe and effective alternative to acute hospital bedded care for people who are sick enough to be in hospital.

Hospital-level care provided at home means people living with frailty are not exposed to some of the risks arising from long stays in hospital, such as infections and deconditioning.

There is mounting evidence for the effectiveness of Hospital at Home services, which are greatly valued by those who use them. With 35,000 people a year benefiting from this alternative to hospital in England, further development of Hospital at Home should be encouraged as a key part of the Government’s ‘left shift’ from hospital to community.

continued ...

My source:
https://x.com/GeriSoc/status/1965676874111037547

Webinar: 8 April Humanizing Health Care Through Relationality -

Exploring The Science And Practice Of Community Engagement

Join us for the first of four webinars co-hosted by the WHO Department of Integrated Health Services (IHS) and the Global Health Partnerships (GHP) (formerly THET). This webinar series is based on a new policy report launched at the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) -

https://wish.org.qa/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Relationality-in-Community-Engagement.pdf 

The report revisits foundational concepts of community and examines how a deeper understanding of the relational nature of community engagement can contribute to improving quality of health care and transforming health systems. The webinar series hopes to inspire a shared understanding of community engagement’s transformative potential and how it can be leveraged for people-led change.

Continued ...

 Previously: relational :: community :: scale

Scaling-up Health Arts Programmes: Effectiveness Research (Sold Out!)

This event is located in London, it is sold-out and not online. Coming across the symposium on twitter and learning that the research has run its course prompted me to think about the life-cycle of projects, research (big and small); ever important, of course, in the dissemination of research results, outcomes and benefits.

More details are provided on the 'Sold Out' event link and in the image below:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/collaborating-to-scale-implement-established-arts-and-health-programmes-tickets-874119594237

 

Why bother to post this? We can't be all-knowing in terms of research / project calls. This means I've noticed how we often learn of initiatives and opportunities at their close. News of citations for Hodges' model arrive is invariably after-the-fact, the fact being the 'study' as a whole. So is the dissemination more haphazard than it needs to be? A silly question, but have all the research councils, academia in general looked at research 'alerts'. What about the Government? Especially in response to citizen science, patient engagement, public involvement? Is this an application begging for a digital solution? Perhaps there is one (several) out there already? In human resources there is employee on-boarding, orientation and there's off-boarding, or there's supposed to be the leaver's questionnaire and exit interview. Beyond the final research report what is the situation: marks out of 10?

This looks a great initiative, especially the participation, collaboration and creativity generated. Below I've related some relevant concepts within Hodges' model: embedded within the spiritual.

Individual

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

ipseity, identity Health: parity of esteem - mind::body my lived experience, efficacy ideas, perspective, interpretation	body - movement, physio.. objects, media, physical reality time, place, space information sharing
art forms: fine, dance, drama, music ... collective - collaborative creativity shared motivation, public awareness participant identification (biases?)	policy (national - regional, local) research funding physical accessibility - transport funding distribution

My source:
https://x.com/TheNCCH/status/1798020326007472407

I also realise the access limitations presented here on a blog commenced in 2006.

World Health Day 2024

World Health Day 2024

Around the world, the right to health of millions is increasingly coming under threat.

Diseases and disasters loom large as causes of death and disability.

Conflicts are devastating lives, causing death, pain, hunger and psychological distress.

The burning of fossil fuels is simultaneously driving the climate crisis and taking away our right to breathe clean air, with indoor and outdoor air pollution claiming a life every 5 seconds.

The WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All has found that at least 140 countries recognize health as a human right in their constitution. Yet countries are not passing and putting into practice laws to ensure their populations are entitled to access health services. This underpins the fact that at least 4.5 billion people — more than half of the world’s population — were not fully covered by essential health services in 2021.

To address these types of challenges, the theme for World Health Day 2024 is 'My health, my right’. ...

https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day/2024

My source: HIFA

World Health 24/7/365 . . . also calls for a generic conceptual framework around which individual, family, community and population health can be assessed, planned, formulated, delivered and evaluated.

European Public Health Week - Health is a political choice!

European Public Health Week

13-17 May 2024

Health is a political choice! 

"The European Public Health Week (EUPHW) 2024 will focus on the overarching topic - Health is a political choice! - highlighting the interplay between politics and health to create sustainable change for better health in the future. 

We will open the dialogue online and in person in Brussels on Monday, May 13, at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, discussing how to integrate health into the political agenda effectively. We will address health within the context of crises and explore the concepts of a well-being economy and politics. Additionally, we'll delve into the importance of community participation in health politics, implementing Health-in-All-Policies, and the broader application of health considerations across all policy areas. This day aims to set the stage for a week of fruitful discussions, laying the groundwork for actionable insights and strategies to ensure health is prioritised across all levels of political decision-making. Stay tuned for more information on this event!. ..."

INDIVIDUAL
|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

Mental health Self-esteem Personal and Cultural Identity Sense of security: Crisis <> Peace Public mental health & well-being Individual health literacy	Planetary health Global pandemics - Local inequities Environment - Cities, Rural, Remote Pollution control Evidence (across policy contexts) Nutrition local, glocal, global [Geo*]
Social policy Housing: Climate/Demographic mitigation Healthy societies, Living alone, Families Inclusive communities Social media - Information provenance	Elections - National/International *Politics Economics Policy, Regulation Health systems Yes, health is a political choice!

Books: NHS 75

INDIVIDUAL

|

     INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

Our Stories: 75 Years of the NHS from the People Who Built It, Lived It and Love It
https://www.england.nhs.uk/nhsbirthday/events-and-news/new-book-celebrates-nhs-staff-at-75/

Fighting for Life - The Twelve Battles that Made Our NHS, and the Struggle for Its Future
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/321469/fighting-for-life-by-hardman-isabel/9780241504345

Seventy-sixth World Health Assembly

WHO Note for Media, 26 May 2023

Read online:

https://www.who.int/news/item/26-05-2023-seventy-sixth-world-health-assembly---daily-update--26-may-2023

Text of note follows and a Comment from me below.

Gearing up for a historic UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage

Member States expressed alarm that millions of people cannot access life-saving and health-enhancing interventions. Out-of-pocket spending on health catastrophically affects over 1 billion people, pushing hundreds of millions of people into extreme poverty. The situation has worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response, Member States agreed a resolution supporting preparations for the United Nations High-Level Meeting (HLM) on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in September 2023. UHC means that all people have access to the full range of quality health services they need without financial hardship.

c/o World Health Assembly - media

In a transformative policy shift, Member States across high-, middle- and low-income countries expressed strong commitment to reorient their health systems based on primary health care (PHC) as a foundation for achieving health for all and reaching the furthest left behind first. About 90% of UHC interventions can be delivered using a PHC approach; from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care, potentially saving 60 million lives by 2030.

The Member States emphasized the importance of demonstrating the highest-level political commitment at the HLM in September with the aim of achieving resulting in a concise, action-oriented declaration for UHC.

[...]

COMMENT (NPW): I would add that quality of care is just as important as access and affordability. As we have discussed on HIFA, a 2018 Lancet paper estimated that 5-8 million deaths are caused by poor quality care every year (as we pointed out at the time, the true figure is probably much higher higher because it did not include care in the home or community before reaching a health facility). The Lancet paper did not estimate the number of deaths due to poor-quality primary versus secondary care. Quality of care is fundamentally dependent on the timely application of reliable healthcare information, and most deaths are probably (arguably, as we do not know the numbers) avoidable through the timely application of reliable healthcare information, even with minimal physical resources.

HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil AT hifa.org

HIFA - my source.

Int. Congress on Evidence-based Parenting Support (6-8 June 2023)

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Abstract submissions date for the International Congress on Evidence-based Parenting Support (6-8 June 2023) has been extended to 23 December 2022. This global initiative will focus on effective evidence-based parenting support. It will bring together academics, policymakers, practitioners, consumers and service providers to advance research, policy and practice in the field of parenting and family intervention. This international collaboration aims to create global impact that will benefit parents and children now and for the next generation.

We welcome your insights from research, policy and practice that address a wide range of themes. See more on the themes: https://www.i-ceps.pafra.org/submission

Exciting news for submissions from low- and middle-income countries. The organising committee is pleased to offer free registration for the 20 top ranking abstracts from these countries.

Submissions close: 23 December 2022

More guidelines on abstracts: https://www.i-ceps.pafra.org/submission

Regards, Maria Battaglia

BEd, GradDip Ed&Pub, MComms Communications Officer Institute of Child Protection Studies Australian Catholic University Pronouns: she/her

Level 1, 232 Victoria Parade East Melbourne VIC 3002 Monday to Friday P: 03 9230 8732 E: Maria.Battaglia AT acu.edu.au W: www.acu.edu.au/icps W: safeguardingchildren AT acu.edu.au T: @ACU_ICPS L: Institute of Child Protection Studies

I-CEPS Congress (hosted by PAFRA) W: https://www.i-ceps.pafra.org/ Twitter: @PAFRA_Official LinkedIn: ICEPS2023 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ICEPS2023

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands on which I live and work, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

HIFA profile: Maria Battaglia is Communications Officer at the Institute of Child Protection Studies, Australian Catholic University. https://www.i-ceps.pafra.org/ E: Maria.Battaglia AT acu.edu.au 

My source: https://hifa.org/