Dear all

We’re writing to give you an update on our campaign to change the name of World Menstrual Hygiene Day. 

As you know, we have been talking with WASH United for the past 2 and a half years about changing the name to World Menstrual Health Day, a name we - and all of you - believe is a truer reflection of what we celebrate on 28th May each year.

After a lot of discussion, WASH United kindly agreed to carry out stakeholder consultation on the name change, this process was kicked off early in 2021. WASH United have recently been in contact and unfortunately the results of the consultation were inconclusive and did not constitute a strong mandate from their stakeholders for change. We’re disappointed to share with you that, without this mandate and taking into account the costs of rebranding, WASH United have decided to not go ahead with changing the name of the day.

Our own opinion at Health Not Hygiene clearly hasn’t changed. We feel so strongly that the global conversation around menstruation has moved on comprehensively from, say, 2014, to the point that many people have organically switched to using menstrual health instead of hygiene. Not only does keeping the same name make the 28th May day of action outdated and behind the times, but it misses the opportunity to lead from the front in quarters where terminology is still lagging behind. For a day which is about a global moment of changing attitudes and fighting menstrual inequality and stigma, this seems to us to miss the point.

We started Health Not Hygiene in September 2019 and we have had great success with your help:

• We have raised awareness of the relationship between harmful language and menstrual stigma
• Many more organisations and individuals now do not use the term ‘menstrual hygiene’ on the 28th of May
• Both Boots and Asda (retailers in the UK) have renamed their ‘feminine hygiene’ aisles - check out our retail campaign back in 2020 
• We have grown a movement of over 40,000 people strong

We promise that we will keep going as a campaign, and as a movement, and it will be the institutions who will be left behind.

Thank you for your continued support, 

Health Not Hygiene Team

#HealthNotHygiene