How It All Began
During the International Women’s Health Meeting in Costa Rica, the Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Health Network (LACWHN) proposed to celebrate May 28 annually as the International Day of Action for Women’s Health.
Being the leading regional network, LACWHN took the responsibility of promoting and coordinating regional actions. The Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR), as the global network, was requested to spearhead the May 28 campaign worldwide. Both networks worked closely together with a group of core active members in coordinating campaign efforts.
Proposed May 28 in 1987 and leads regional campaign coordination and annual Calls for Action for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Requested to spearhead the global May 28 campaign, equipping members worldwide with annual Calls for Action and campaign materials.
The First Call for Action
The first Call for Action was a multi-year campaign on preventing maternal mortality and morbidity. It was an immediate success and achieved results on several levels.
Provided grassroots women’s organizations with access to information previously only available through specialized journals.
Brought to light significant gaps in research data on women’s health, resulting in more face-to-face meetings, seminars, and studies.
Brought the women’s health movement closer together at both national and international levels, strengthening its collective impact.
Concurrently, international bodies including the World Health Organisation, the Pan American Health Organisation, and the World Bank took up the issue under the theme of “Safe Motherhood,” encouraging investment of funds to improve services and sponsoring seminars, training, and research programmes.
Annual Themes Across the Years
LACWHN and WGNRR have maintained the campaign through yearly collaborative Calls for Action, each focusing on a particular topic related to women’s health. Themes addressed over the years include access to quality health care, the feminisation of poverty, access to safe and legal abortion, government accountability in prioritizing health markets, health sector reform and women’s health, women and HIV/AIDS, international trade agreements and women’s access to health, violence against women as a global health emergency, young people’s SRHR, and access to contraceptives.
| Year | Theme |
|---|---|
| 2013 | Access to Contraceptives is a Human Right |
| 2015 | Our Health, Our Rights, Our Lives |
| 2017 | Our Health, Our Rights, Our Lives |
| 2018 | Our Health, Our Rights, Our Lives |
| 2019 | Our Health, Our Rights, Our Lives |
| 2020 | SRHR is Essential in COVID-19 Response |
| 2021 | Women’s Health Matters: Ending the Inequality Pandemic and ensuring SRHR remains essential! |
| 2022 | Resist and Persist: Amid Crisis and Global Uncertainty |
| 2023 | Our Voices, Our Actions, Our Demands: Uphold women’s health and rights now! |
| 2024 | Mobilizing in Critical Times of Threats and Opportunities! |
| 2025 | In Solidarity We Resist: Our Fight, Our Right! |
| 2026 | Essential, Not Optional: Strengthening Health Systems to Uphold Health Rights and SRHRJ in Times of Polycrisis |
Explore the full history of past campaigns and their materials at may28.org/about/past-campaigns/
A Day for Every Movement
May 28 is a Day of Action recognized internationally, wherein any organisation or individual can mobilise their communities around their own priority topic best suiting the local context. Over the years WGNRR has served the needs of its own members by reflecting their priorities for the focus of each annual Call for Action, equipping them with associated campaign materials. LACWHN, meanwhile, has developed its own Call for Action with its regional membership.
Other women’s health activists commemorate May 28 independently, developing their own themes and materials reflecting the issues important to their stakeholders.
Any organisation working to advance women’s health rights is welcome to launch May 28 activities, in the aim of ensuring women’s health and well-being worldwide, particularly in terms of their SRHR.
If your organisation is interested in joining or participating in the global May 28 campaign, reach out to the global coordinator: