New community hub for menopausal women launches

Global women’s health company, Essity has announced the launch of Issviva.

Issviva will be a community hub that aims to support women going through menopause.

Issviva will help to build a better menopause experience for women around the world. The new platform aims to break barriers for women going through menopause and empower them to thrive and not just survive during this transactional period in their lives.

The platform will enable women to seek education, share advice and connect with like-minded people.

Dr Shahzadi Harper, a menopause expert who is working with Issviva, said: “I see so many women in my clinic every week whose lives are being seriously impacted by menopause. Some experience breakdowns in their relationships, some are facing debilitating health conditions and some are even leaving their jobs because of symptoms of the menopause”.

The platform will provide education blogs, a safe space where women can speak with each other, and scientifically backed products and solutions for the users.

This will help women overcome the vision that menopause is still a taboo as according to a Gen-M Invisibility Report from 2020 two thirds of women still see it as a stigma. As a result, there is an invisible generation of menopausal people suffering in silence, with symptoms that can be physically and mentally debilitating.

NHS also found that 41 per cent of menopausal women feel “lonely, invisible, irrelevant and dispensable”. These feelings can manifest into serious mental health issues, impacting confidence and self-worth.

The platform has been launched by Essity which is a leading global hygiene and health company.

The company includes areas such as health and medical, consumer goods and professional hygiene.

In June of this year the parliament finally acknowledged the need for workplaces to become more ‘menopause-friendly’ by signing a new bill called the Menopause Workplace Pledge.

The first activity of the newly launched Issviva hub was to provide support for the Menopause Mandate’s parliamentary campaign and the Issviva team joined the lobbying day at The House of Commons.