Menstrual Hygiene Day (MH Day) was founded as a collective effort to remove the stigma associated with menstruation and to promote better menstrual hygiene.
Together with our value chain partners, we are proud to commemorate this day, chosen by the organizers for its symbolism: the fifth month of the year, May, stands for five days, or the average length of a woman’s period; and 28 stands for the average length of the menstrual cycle itself.
For some 40 to 45 years of their lives, women and girls throughout the world need to manage both regular and intermittent bleeding and discharges as a natural consequence of being a woman. Menstruation continues to be a taboo; even in more liberal societies menstruation can still be an embarrassing subject.
Access to safe and reliable menstrual hygiene products, including pads, liners and tampons is a crucial dimension of good hygiene and health. Even in Europe not all women have an appropriate access to feminine care products. As an innovator in polyolefins and leading global supplier to the hygiene industry, we offer a wide range of spunbond, meltblown and staple fiber materials. Our value chain partners turn our innovative material solutions into hygiene products that are not only safe, but reliable, convenient, soft and comfortable to use.
Typical design of a feminine pad
© Borealis
At Borealis, we are putting our polymer expertise to work in collaborative projects with our nonwovens value chain partners in the area of hygiene products. Because we can tailor the most crucial properties of feminine hygiene articles – such as strength, stretch, silkiness, and liquid repellence – we are helping women manage menstrual hygiene more efficiently and comfortably. We are pleased to support MH Day in breaking the remaining taboos around menstruation.
Peter Voortmans, Borealis Global Commercial Director Flexible Packaging
At Fibertex Personal Care, we collaborate with leading hygiene brands to promote women’s health and wellbeing through the design and manufacture of nonwoven for period products that are safe and reliable. Today’s technologies and advanced materials make period stigma a thing of the past by making women feel comfort and confident about their period. We support MH Day in their efforts to empower women by enabling equitable access to affordable and high-quality hygiene products.
Elsebeth Lykkegaard, Fibertex Personal Care Communications Director
On the 10th anniversary of Menstrual Hygiene (Health) Day, it’s time to reflect on what has changed over the past 10 years, what gaps persist, and what needs to be done to close the menstrual health gap and enable more people to participate in school, work, and social life fully. At Essity, we believe that actions and collaboration across sectors and organizations, global and local, public and private, are essential to remove the barriers that limit women and girls, in all their diversity, to attain menstrual health. Some of the key areas to drive needed change towards menstrual health are: ensuring access to safe and affordable menstrual health products, solutions, and services; ensuring access to clean water and safe and private sanitation facilities in private and public spaces; ensuring access to inclusive, accurate information and education on how to (self-) manage menstrual health; and normalizing and de-stigmatizing menstruation, ensuring stigma-free environments and raising awareness of menopause needs.
Anna Brodowsky, Essity Vice President Public Affairs