International Day of Action for Women's Health
The Day of Action for Women's Health was launched in 1987 by the Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (May28 [...], n.d.) and is now supported by many non-profit initiatives worldwide. On May 28, actions are held internationally to exert pressure on the responsible institutions to ensure that FLINTA* persons receive equal rights in the health sector (May28 [...], 2026).
The thematic focus of the day itself is changed each year; in 2026, the motto of the International Day of Action for Women's Health is
Essential, Not Optional: Strengthening Health Systems to Uphold Health Rights and SRHRJ1 in Times of Polycrisis (May28, 2026)
The network behind the day deals, among other things, with...
...sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice (SRHRJ),
.…women's right to self-determination over their own bodies,
....access to safe and legal abortion and
.…the understanding that women's health cannot be considered in isolation from conditions such as poverty (WGNRR "Who we are", n.d.).
Why is a day of action like this important?
FLINTA* have historically always been and still are disadvantaged in medicine. For example, most crash test dummies are based on cis-male bodies (Gendered Innovations [...], n.d.). In addition, diseases that only affect people with a uterus and/or vulva, such as endometriosis, are often only diagnosed years later (Enzenhofer, 2017). In 2023, more than 700 people worldwide were still dying every day from preventable complications during pregnancies and births (WHO [...], 2025).
The International Day of Action for Women's Health aims to draw attention to these inequalities and gradually reduce them (May28 [...], 2026).
Intersectional discrimination in medicine
In addition, many people experience intersectional discrimination in medicine due to racism, transphobia and queer hostility. For example, Black women are "more likely to die from cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, strokes, lupus and various cancers" (McKoy, 2023) than people of other ethnic groups: In the U.S., the breast cancer mortality rate for Black women is 39% higher than for White women (Slone Epidemiology Center [...], n.d.).
Historical background to the day of action
Fueled by the upsurge of feminist movements in the 1970s, the International Contraception, Abortion and Sterilization Campaign (ICASC) organized the first International Women and Health Meeting (IWHM) in 1980 (WGNRR, n.d.). This conference led to the founding of several women's health networks[1] in various countries, including the Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR, n.d.). From the IWHM conference in 1987, this network, together with the Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network, began to develop an annual Call for Action (C4A) and set May 28 as the joint day of action for this campaign (WGNRR, n.d.). In the years that followed, more and more networks from around the world joined the day of action and conferences to discuss international strategies to uphold and promote women's rights in healthcare (WGNRR, n.d.).
1 The website of the network behind the day of action only refers to "women", which is why the section on the origins of the day of action in this text does not initially address the fact that many TIN (trans*, inter* and non-binary) people who are not women also experience discrimination in the healthcare sector. There is more information on this in the section on the importance of such a day of action.
World Menstruation Day
May 28 is World Menstruation Day. The date symbolizes the average 28-day menstrual cycle and May, as the fifth month, the average duration of menstruation of five days (Endometriosis-Vereinigung Deutschland e.V., 2024). The day addresses the importance of access to menstrual hygiene, highlights the challenges that menstruating people experience in this regard and raises awareness of menstrual poverty (ibid.).
On their website, the team behind World Menstrual Day describes five areas of everyday life or key points of menstrual health and hygiene that they are focusing on and where they have already seen progress:
Destigmatize menstruation in the social environment
Education and information about menstruation
Access to period products
Toilets that make it possible to deal with menstruation hygienically
Preventive health care regarding complications and diseases associated with menstruation (Menstrual Hygiene Day "The Mission of MH Day", n.d.)
Why is such a day important?
Even today, menstruation is still highly stigmatized and socially taboo worldwide: menstruating people are sometimes considered unhygienic and are excluded from areas of public life while they are menstruating (Plan International Deutschland e.V., 2022).
However, menstruating people are disadvantaged even without social stigma: Around 500 million menstruating people worldwide suffer from period poverty (ibid.). This means that they cannot afford a sufficient quantity of period products, such as tampons or sanitary towels, or painkillers, without which some people cannot cope with their normal everyday life during their menstruation (ibid.). Lack of menstrual hygiene is also a major problem. Many menstruating people lack access to hygienic conditions such as clean running water and toilets that offer enough privacy to change period products (ibid.). These various factors can lead to some people having to miss work or school during their period. As a result, children miss out on lessons and adults have fewer career opportunities or earn less money (UNICEF Blog, 2026).
The origins of the day of action
World Menstruation Day was launched in 2014 by WASH United (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene). On the first World Menstrual Day, 155 WASH United partner organizations took part. Since then, the number of participating organizations has risen to over 1,300 (Menstrual Hygiene Day "About MH Day", n.d.).
Author: L. Rottbeck
Last updated: May 2025
Sources (in German)
Enzenhofer, B. (2017). Das E-Wort. Letzter Zugriff: 20.05.2026.
Gendered Innovations in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering, and Environment (o. J.). Inclusive Crash Test Dummies: Rethinking Standards and Reference Models. Letzter Zugriff: 20.05.2026.
May28 International Day of Action for Women’s Health (2026). 2026 May28 Call to Action. Letzter Zugriff: 20.05.2026.
May28 International Day of Action for Women’s Health (o. J.). The Story of May 28. Letzter Zugriff: 20.05.2026.
McKoy, J. (2023). Racism, Sexism, And the Crisis of Black Women’s Health. Letzter Zugriff: 20.05.2026.
Slone Epidemology Center, Black Women’s Health Study (o. J.). Special Studies. Letzter Zugriff: 20.05.2026.
WGNRR Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (o. J.) History. Letzter Zugriff: 20.05.2026.
WHO World Health Organization (2025). Maternal Mortality. Letzter Zugriff: 20.05.2026.
Further information on the topic
Sources (in German)
Endometriose-Vereinigung Deutschland e. V. (2024). Weltmenstruationstag. Letzter Zugriff 20.05.2026.
Menstrual Hygiene Day (o. J.). About MH Day. Letzter Zugriff 20.05.2026.
Menstrual Hygiene Day (o. J.). The Mission of MH Day.
Plan International Deutschland e.V. (2022). Menstruation im Fokus. Erfahrungen von Mädchen und Frauen in Deutschland und Weltweit. Letzter Zugriff 20.05.2026.
UNICEF Blog (2026). Was ist Periodenarmut? Letzter Zugriff 20.05.2026.
Further information on the topic
To mark World Menstruation Day, the Equal Opportunities Office is handing out free tampons in several toilets on the TU Dortmund University campus.