NaijaFem's Knowledge centre
The importance and impact of the menstrual cycle on health across the lifespan have long been underappreciated. Menstrual cycle disturbances (eg, pain and heavy bleeding) are some of the most obvious of these impacts but, although recognised medically, do not receive the clinical and research attention that they deserve. Evidence from the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics suggests that over a third of women experience menstrual disturbances, yet up to 50% of women do not seek care even when access to health-care is available.1 Moreover, menstrual cycle characteristics are not routinely assessed or documented in clinical practice.2 The consequences of unaddressed disorders and discomforts related to menstruation range from undi agnosed and untreated health conditions to social exclusion and work absences.
Read the full article 'Rosen Vollmar AK, Mahalingaiah S, Jukic AM. The menstrual cycle is a vital sign across the lifespan. Lancet Obstet Gynaecol Womens Health. 2025' here
MENSTRUAL HEALTH IS A HIGH-IMPACT, LOW-RECOGNITIONPUBLIC HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT ISSUE. Despite affectingover 1.7 billion people in LMICs, menstrual health, especiallymenstrual concerns and disorders, remains invisible in healthsystems, undermining gender equity, health outcomes, and economic productivity.
Read the full article by the PSI here
MENSTRUAL HEALTH IS LARGELY ABSENT FROM LMIC HEALTH SYSTEMS. Despite the high burden and widespread impact of menstrual concerns and disorders, most health systems offer little more than awareness campaigns and product distribution — falling short in providing comprehensive information on health aspects, diagnosis, treatment, or long-term management of these conditions.
Read the full article by the PSI here
THE COSTS OF INACTION ARE SUBSTANTIAL: Menstrual disorders contribute to years lived with disability among women of reproductive age - a hidden burden that exacts long-term costs on individuals, families, and nations - both in health outcomes (from maternal mortality to chronic, non-communicable diseases) and in economic productivity.
Read the full article by the PSI here
Lack of good menstrual health is an economic cost to women’s individual lives and society at large. Ignoring Menstrual Health and Hygiene (MHH) needs results in substantial costs to society. This impact starts to show at an early age as young girls' school participation and attendance is affected, which results in earlier school dropouts and lower earnings over time.1,2 Women and girls often face marginalisation and stigmatisation because of menstruation, which impacts their full participation in society. These
consequences accumulate over a lifetime: reduced educational opportunities and school dropout result in reduced future earnings and are compounded by higher healthcare costs.
Read the full article by the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund here
The findings illustrate that:
- for every additional £1 of public investment in obstetrics and
gynaecology services per woman in England, there is an estimated ROI
of £11. If an additional £1 per woman in England were invested in these
services, the economy could benefit from an additional £319 million in
total gross value added (GVA)
-the economic cost of absenteeism due to severe period pain and heavy
periods alongside endometriosis, fibroids and ovarian cysts is estimated
to be nearly £11 billion per annum
-unemployment due to menopause symptoms has a direct economic
impact of approximately £1.5 billion per annum with approximately
60,000 women in the UK not being in employment due to menopause
symptoms
Read the full article by the UK NHS Confederation here
Struggling to access the right care and support for many gynaecological conditions is not a new experience for women and is the result of a lack of investment and attention given to women’s healthcare historically. Through this new report the RCOG is shining a light on the true impact of gynaecology waiting lists on women and on the wider health system and calling for an NHS recovery that meets the needs of women on gynaecology waiting lists and finally gives parity to a speciality that has too often been overlooked.
Women are waiting longer than ever for their care.
Read the full article by the RCOG here
Censhorship revealed uncovers a growing deeply under addressed crisis: the routine digital suppression and censorship of women's health content on very large online platforms including major social media platforms. This white paper documents how medically accurate non sexual content about female health are systematically removed, restricted, down ranked, even when created by qualified experts
Read the full article by CensHERship here
Investments addressing the women’s health gap could add years to life and life to years – and potentially boost the global economy by
$1 trillion annually by 2040.
Read the full article by the WEF here
Common yet ignored: the neglect of gynaecological conditions in medical research Endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and uterine fibroids are common gynaecological conditions that affect the health and wellbeing of millions of women1 worldwide.
Despite their high prevalence and burden, medical knowledge and therapeutic options are limited, because of a historical neglect of women’s health conditions. Currently, the pathophysiology of these three conditions is poorly understood, although various
pathways are implicated (e.g. endocrine, inflammatory, etc). As a result, clinical management relies on repurposed medicines for symptoms only, and there are no cures available aside from
fertility impacting surgery, such as hysterectomy for uterine fibroids.
Diagnostics are also limited. Uterine fibroids are detected by ultrasound, while diagnosing PCOS relies on identifying a cluster of symptoms – often subjectively and using inconsistent thresholds
– through clinical examination, ultrasound and endocrine biomarkers, many of which are inaccessible in low-resource settings. For endometriosis, the gold standard, and until recently, only available diagnostic, is laparoscopic examination. This is invasive and not always accessible, leading to severe diagnostic delays – estimated to be between 4 to 11 years – and a massive underestimation of disease prevalence. Despite the high prevalence and burden associated with these common gynaecological conditions, the research and development landscape is underdeveloped and underfunded, leaving women with few diagnostic and therapeutic options to address or manage symptoms that seriously affect their quality of life.
Read the full article by the IGH here
In our research with women impacted by these lengthy waits, we have heard about the continued and worsening impact on their lives. Women waiting for care are commonly in constant, chronic,and debilitating pain, struggling to manage worsening physical and mental health symptoms. A quarter of the women we surveyed for this report said they had attended A&E because of their symptoms, with more than one in ten going on to require emergency interventions, such as blood and iron transfusions. Chronic waiting times are directly preventing women from living their lives to
the fullest. Not only is this deeply unfair to women, but it impacts all of us, given women's integral contributions to wider society and the economy. Professionals across the system were united in their deep concern for their patients, emphasising the moral injury and helplessness they felt as a result of not being able to expedite waiting times or offer the care they want to provide, due to a lack of capacity and resources.
Read the full article by the RCOG here
This report from Dr Stefanie Felsberger and the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy represents a critical intervention into the governance of health tracking apps. Using a data justice framing, this report critiques society’s poor understanding and treatment of
menstruation and explores the risks women face when cycle tracking apps are not well governed. This report highlights that the data
extracted by the femtech industry is extremely valuable and shows how different actors abuse such data to the very real detriment of women,of all people, and of society.
Read the full article here