Everything About International Day of Action for Women’s Health

The International Day of Action for Women's Health Day, also known as International Women's Health Day, is a day dedicated to raising awareness about women's health rights.

Every year on May 28th, women and health organizations around the world commemorate this important day. In 1987, the International Women's Health Day was established, and the South African government acknowledged it.

International Day of Action for Women's Health: What is it and Why is it Celebrated?

International Day of Action for Women's Health 2022 call for action

The International Day of Action for Women's Health is observed every year on May 28 by women's rights advocates and allies in the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) movement around the world. Women, girls, advocates, and supporters have continued to take action and speak up for sexual and reproductive rights as an indivisible and inalienable element of our human rights, year after year.

Women's human rights, particularly sexual and reproductive rights, are being systematically violated all over the world, and mobilization both within and outside of our communities is more important than ever to resist any rolling back of our rights and to advance sexual and reproductive justice for all.

As the global geopolitical backdrop becomes increasingly regressive, it is more necessary than ever to reject any attempts to limit women's rights, particularly our human rights to freely choose, coercion, discrimination, and abuse are prohibited in all aspects of our bodies, sexualities, and lives.

Even after all these years, the topic of women's health remains a major concern. As a result, this special day is one of the most effective ways to raise awareness and educate women about the importance of their health and well-being. Women all across the world require education on themes such as sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

History of International Day of Action for Women's Health 2022:

The International Women's Health Day was established in 1987, and the South African government acknowledged it at that time. With the start of the day, a chance to educate and raise awareness about the importance of sexual and reproductive health and women's rights was finally acknowledged.

The significance of educating women around the world about topics such as Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), regardless of religion or age, remains paramount. Rights for Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRHR):

The following rights are part of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR): The Rights to:
 

• Get sexuality knowledge.
• Sexuality education is a programme that teaches students about their sexuality
• Pick a partner
• Decide whether or not you want to be sexually active.
• Modern contraceptive methods should be used.
• Maternal care is available.
• Abortion care that is both safe and effective
• Learn about sexually transmitted illness and infection prevention, care, and treatment.

Various concerns concerning women's health and rights have been discussed in recent years, including:

• Abortion clinic that is safe and legal.
• Contraception is well-understood.
• Women's health and the health of the health sector are improving.
• SRHR for females
• Facilities for health and medication
• HIV/AIDS prevention for women

10 Points to Call on Governments by SRHR:


Together with SRHR activists around the world, let's call on governments and global institutions this May 28:

• Recognize sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) as critical to post-pandemic recovery, and commit to achieving them through legislation and policies that facilitate access to sexual and reproductive health services and information, including safe abortion and post-abortion care services, as well as the repeal of harmful policies, particularly those that criminalize women and marginalized genders for making decisions about their bodies, health, and lives.
• Recognize the many and intersecting types of discrimination faced by women and girls, particularly those in vulnerable conditions, that hinder them from accessing essential social services such as public transportation and infrastructure, housing and sanitation, education, and health care.
• Protect and facilitate all people's life course sexual and reproductive health and rights, as well as the gradual implementation of integrated sexual and reproductive health information and services as part of universal health coverage.
• Prevent and eliminate sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), which includes harmful practices such as child, early, and forced marriage, female genital mutilation and cutting, and femicide, and recognize SGBV as a shadow pandemic that affects one-third of all women worldwide and is particularly prevalent during times of crisis.
• Address the health, information, and education requirements of young people by offering comprehensive sexuality education and tackling digital divide concerns, as well as guaranteeing the equal, complete, and meaningful engagement of young people in development in all of their diversity.
• Ensure that adolescent and youth-friendly facilities and services are available, that healthcare staff are trained, that hotlines or online services for consultation and referral are available, and that young people are empowered to utilize these services.
• Address stigma, loneliness, harassment, discrimination, and social exclusion connected to menstruation. Ensure that girls, women with disabilities, transgender males, and nonbinary people have access to the free menstrual health products and services they require. To overcome the challenges to menstrual health, independence, and growth, strengthen menstrual health and hygiene programmes.
• Invest in research that uses an intersectional perspective to link socioeconomic, health, and gender inequities to climate change to fill data gaps, give evidence-based insights to better policies and programmes, and encourage intersectional analysis.
• Address systemic impediments, such as social norms, laws, and regulations, that restrict individuals from fulfilling their sexual and reproductive health and rights and worsen the current crises; and
• Object against the rise of authoritarianism and fundamentalism. Aggression wars should be condemned. At the regional and global levels, build peace and create solidarity based on human rights and evidence-based policies.