Scrub Life Cares, a public health nonprofit organisation, has officially launched a month-long Menstrual Health Awareness Campaign for May, working toward what the organisation describes as a more period-friendly Antigua and Barbuda. According to Antigua News Room, the campaign aims to reduce menstrual stigma, expand access to accurate health education, and spark national conversations around menstruation as a public health, gender equity, and community wellness issue.
Throughout May, Scrub Life Cares will lead a series of community-centred activities spanning public education efforts, workplace conversations, school and youth engagement, media outreach, and advocacy initiatives. The organisation has framed periods not as a private matter, but as a concern touching school attendance, workplace participation, mental health, dignity, and overall quality of life.
"Menstrual health is health. Period," said Tanya Ambrose, Founder and CEO of Scrub Life Cares. "For too long, conversations around menstruation have been treated as private, uncomfortable, or shameful. But periods affect school attendance, workplace participation, mental health, physical health, access to care, dignity, and overall quality of life. This campaign is about bringing menstrual health into the open and helping Antigua and Barbuda move toward becoming a truly period-friendly nation."
Ambrose, who holds a Master of Public Health and specialises in maternal, child, and reproductive health, founded Scrub Life Cares after years of work across Antigua and Barbuda, the wider Caribbean, and underserved communities in South Carolina. The organisation has focused on addressing period poverty, reproductive health education gaps, and barriers affecting the health and well-being of women, girls, youth, and families.
As part of the campaign, Scrub Life Cares will collaborate with key national partners including the Antigua and Barbuda Directorate of Gender Affairs, the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre, schools, businesses, community organisations, athletes, advocates, and healthcare professionals. The organisation is also engaging businesses and employers around the importance of period-positive workplaces — specifically, access to menstrual products, clean and private facilities, supportive policies, and stigma-free conversations — and how these intersect with productivity, employee well-being, and gender equity.
A flagship event of the month will be Scrub Life Cares' 5th Annual Grow with the Flo Women and Girls Health Expo, scheduled for Saturday, May 23, 2026, at the Cana Moravian Church Grounds in Swetes Village. The expo brings together women, girls, families, schools, health professionals, businesses, and community organisations for a day of education, empowerment, health screenings, interactive activities, and conversations around menstrual health, reproductive health, maternal and child health, mental wellness, disability inclusion, nutrition, and whole-person care.
This year's expo expands its scope to include a stronger focus on maternal health, perinatal and family wellness, and a more intentional neurodivergent and disability-inclusive component. The organisation anticipates hundreds of attendees and says the event will continue its tradition of creating a safe, inclusive, and educational space that connects menstrual health to broader community care.
The campaign will culminate around Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28, a globally recognised day of action. Scrub Life Cares is inviting the public, schools, businesses, healthcare workers, community groups, athletes, and families across Antigua and Barbuda to wear red or pink, take photos, and share messages of support using the organisation's campaign messaging and social media tags — a visible push to normalise conversations about menstrual health.
"This is not just a campaign for women and girls. This is a national public health conversation," Ambrose said. "Men, boys, parents, teachers, employers, healthcare workers, policymakers, faith leaders, and community members all have a role to play in creating environments where people can manage their periods with dignity and without shame."
Scrub Life Cares has previously led school and community sessions on menstrual health, puberty, consent, body literacy, and reproductive health; distributed menstrual and hygiene products to underserved communities; and conducted original menstrual health research in Antigua and Barbuda. The organisation's research has been accepted for presentation at major public health and adolescent health platforms, strengthening the country's presence in global conversations around health equity. Scrub Life Cares has also contributed to global advocacy for the integration of menstrual health and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education into adolescent health policies.
Through the campaign, Scrub Life Cares is emphasising the role national institutions can play. The Ministries of Health, Education, Gender Affairs, Youth, Sports, and Social Transformation are identified as key stakeholders in building a coordinated national menstrual health approach. The organisation argues that stronger menstrual health education can support school attendance, improve adolescent health outcomes, reduce stigma, encourage early care-seeking, and advance gender equity across the life course.
For Scrub Life Cares, a period-friendly Antigua and Barbuda means accurate, age-appropriate education for children and adolescents; schools and workplaces equipped with supportive environments; and healthcare systems that take menstrual pain, heavy bleeding, endometriosis, fibroids, perimenopause, and other concerns seriously. Ultimately, it means communities no longer treating periods as shameful, but as a normal and important part of health.
"We are working toward a future where no girl misses school because of her period, no woman feels ashamed to speak about her body, no employee feels unsupported at work, and no community treats menstrual health as an afterthought," Ambrose said.
