Managing a monthly cycle comes with real financial and physical costs that millions of people simply cannot afford. Sanitary napkins, tampons, period underwear and pain relief products add up fast and for many, the expense is simply out of reach. According to a 2024 report from the Drexel University College of Medicine, the average woman spends roughly $20 on menstrual products per cycle, totaling approximately $18,000 over her lifetime. The burden falls hardest on Black women and girls: a 2021 survey by the Period Education Project found that 23% of Black respondents reported struggling to afford menstrual products.
The ripple effects go well beyond the wallet. For 1 in 3 women and girls, getting their period means skipping work, missing school or turning down social events because they lack the supplies they need. That reality has only grown more acute in today’s economic climate. No student should lose classroom time, and no one should have to sit out a graduation celebration or a family gathering because a basic hygiene product is financially out of reach yet that is exactly what happens to far too many people, far too regularly.
May 11 through 17 marks Period Appreciation Week, an annual observance designed to bring the issue of period poverty into the open and mobilize support for those most affected. Here are five organizations doing meaningful, measurable work to change that.
Dr. Charis Chambers, The Period Doctor
Dr. Charis Chambers is a board certified OB-GYN and specialist in pediatric and adolescent gynecology whose work sits squarely at the intersection of menstrual equity, health literacy and reproductive justice for Black women and girls. This month she released her book, The Period and Puberty Parenting Revolution: It’s Time to Own the Conversation, Empower Your Child, and Rewrite the Rules of Parenting Kids Through Puberty, which takes on a topic many parents still find difficult to address. Through the layered perspective of a Black woman and medical doctor, Dr. Chambers is turning a long avoided conversation into one parents actually want to have.
The Hygiene Hookup
When Kai Inman launched The Hygiene Hookup in 2020 as a college student, the goal was to get menstrual products into the hands of Baltimore residents during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Six years later, the organization is still going strong expanding its reach and actively working to shift the way society thinks and talks about menstruation. What started as a community response to a crisis has grown into a sustained effort to make period care accessible and destigmatized.
The Alliance for Period Supplies
The Alliance for Period Supplies believes everyone can play a role in ending period poverty, and the entry point is lower than most people think. Getting involved can mean starting a candid conversation with a friend, sharing an informative post online, organizing a product drive through a local church, sorority or workplace, or directing a donation to a community program already doing the work. The organization frames advocacy as something anyone can take up no expertise required.
Black Women’s Health Imperative
The Black Women’s Health Imperative runs a campaign called Positive Period, which takes a multi pronged approach to menstrual equity, expanding product access, pushing for policy change, dismantling stigma and creating room for honest community conversations. The organization brings dignity centered programming to HBCUs, health conferences and community events, meeting people where they are with resources and education designed to empower rather than shame.
The Flow Initiative
Based in Jersey City, N.J., The Flow Initiative is one of the most impactful national organizations working on menstrual equity today. The group advocates for policy change, runs educational workshops and distributes free menstrual products to those in need. To date, it has helped pass seven menstrual health bills, reached 40,000 students with period education and distributed 1.8 million menstrual health products around the world. Those numbers reflect what focused, sustained advocacy can accomplish.
How to get involved
Period poverty is a solvable problem and solving it starts with awareness. Whether it means donating products to a local drive, supporting one of these organizations financially or simply talking more openly about menstrual health, every action counts. The more people engage, the closer the country gets to a future where no one has to choose between their period and their daily life.
