#MHDay2023:
Together, we did it again!
In 2023, the Menstrual Hygiene Day movement faced the challenges of 28 May falling on a Sunday – the worst day for campaigning. But even that couldn’t stop us!
All in all, MH Day 2023 generated 17,828 pieces of media coverage (that is a new record!) and 222,000 contributions on social media. Collectively, we reached more than 705 million people all over the world. That, too, is a new record!
Africa is leading the way in social media
In 2023, more than 50% of social media contributions came from Sub-Saharan Africa. Kenya overtook India and the US to become the country with the most social media contributions globally! WOW! Young people across the global South are using the occasion of MH Day to take a stand for the issue on social media!
Media continues to be a HUGE ally
When we celebrated the first MH Day in 2014, we celebrated 89 pieces of media coverage. Since then, media coverage has exploded, reaching 17,828 this year! That’s 200 times where we were just nine years ago!
But there’s still potential to do better next year when we celebrate MH Day’s 10th anniversary!
The MH Day movement is growing stronger and stronger
The massive collective impact of MH Day is the result of organisations and individuals driving awareness and action around MH Day, online and on the ground.
The MH Day movement keeps growing stronger and stronger and just crossed 1,000 official partner organisations!
Political and financial commitment is still lacking behind
Political support for MHH has increased over the past few years, but not enough. To mobilise urgently needed financial resources for MHH, we need to further increase the political relevance of the issue by getting more high/top-level political decision-makers engaged.
MH Day 2023 was another big step for our movement to create a world without period poverty and stigma and we can’t wait for next year when MH Day will have its 10th anniversary!
Greetings from the International Secretariat of MH Day, WASH United
#WeAreCommitted
The numbers at a glance
155
1003
Menstrual Hygiene Day has 1,003 official partner organisations, ranging from UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank to hundreds of small grassroots NGOs. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the most partners. India is the country with the highest number of partners.
89
17828
In 2023, we picked up 17,828 pieces of media coverage – a new all-time record! Let's take a look at the most popular topics. NGOs calling for more action and opinion pieces by thought leaders received a lot of media attention. Extraordinary events and new research also generated a lot of coverage. Last but not least, the media was very interested in concrete commitments to action. For example, commitments to provide free access to products and funding commitments.
8000
222000
In 2023, our monitoring tools tracked more than 222,000 contributions on social media. Sub-Saharan Africa stood out by a margin with more than 50% of global contributions – incredible! Kenya overtook India and the US to claim the top spot as the most active country on social media.
Note: we can only partially track contributions on Facebook and Instagram, and we cannot track Instagram stories. Hence, we estimate that the actual number of social media contributions is far higher.
22
705
In 2023, MH Day reached an astonishing 705,000,000 people all over the world. Together, we raised awareness and pushed back taboos and stigma like never before. Millions more were reached via print media and through hundreds of Menstrual Hygiene Day events that took place all over the world.