Every October, pink floods public spaces. Breast cancer awareness takes centre stage, amplified through public campaigns, corporate messaging, and digital media. Mental health shares the spotlight that month, while other conditions like diabetes, rare diseases, and stroke, are each assigned their moment in the calendar.

But the more urgent question isn’t how we raise awareness, but what we do when the attention fades.

Behind every ribbon and awareness hashtag lies an uncomfortable truth. Health awareness is too often treated as an annual ritual, rather than a year-round public priority.

A culture of calendar awareness

Awareness days have become so familiar that we rarely pause to ask if they still work, or if we've simply accepted them as tradition.

What began as meaningful moments of visibility, often rooted in community action and patient advocacy, have since become predictable routines. A ribbon, a campaign kit, some branded content, a few curated posts. Then, just as quickly, the noise disappears.

This ritual creates the illusion of impact, but masks a deeper issue: the lack of long-term investment in education, access, and support. When campaigns become templated, they stop challenging assumptions. They become easy to execute, and even easier to ignore.

EXPERT INSIGHT

Surita, Founder and President, Endometriosis Association of Malaysia, believes that Endometriosis Awareness Month, which typically held in March, brings a surge of activities, media coverage, and online conversations. While this concentrated period creates urgency, it can also give the false impression that a one-time push is sufficient. This approach risks oversimplifying endometriosis, a complex, chronic condition that affects women's lives every day. Moreover, key stakeholders, such as educators and policymakers, may only engage during that brief window, leaving critical systemic issues, such as the lack of menstrual education in schools and insufficient research funding, unaddressed for the rest of the year.

Although awareness campaigns during this period help raise visibility, Surita feels they often fall short of fostering deeper understanding, long-term support systems, or lasting policy change. There's also the risk of "awareness fatigue," where audiences become desensitised to recurring messages without meaningful follow-through.

For this reason, our organisation has chosen to expand our approach. This year, we kicked off with a workshop on 8 February 2025 at Thomson Hospital, specifically for patients. In March, we partnered with womensmarch.my on 8 March, and with Universiti Malaya Medical Centre on 29 April. On 17 May, we held the "Endometriosis Awareness for Males" session, led by Mr Zachary Roland, representing our subset group, EndoBrothers. Our final event in May was a collaborative scientific workshop for healthcare professionals, organised by Thomson Hospital, in partnership with EndometriosisCare Oxford Care Research, Monash University, and the University of Warwick, taking place on 27 May.

Related: Endometriosis: When menstrual pain signals something more

Are we measuring the right impact?

Today, health campaigns are measured by reach, impressions, and visibility. These metrics are easy to quantify, but miss the deeper point.

Are behaviours changing? Are diagnoses happening earlier? Are care pathways improving? Do people walk away with a clearer understanding of symptoms, treatment options, or where to seek help? Are the right communities being reached?

And are patients genuinely represented, or are their stories edited to fit a campaign narrative?

Visibility isn’t the same as understanding. Packaging awareness to be palatable often means avoiding the hardest truths and leaving out the most excluded voices.

Until we measure what truly matters, such as knowledge gained, stigma reduced, actions taken, we will continue to mistake performance for progress.

Instead, campaign success should be measured by:

• The number of people who seek screening or care after engaging with the campaign
• Measurable changes in public understanding or stigma levels
• Inclusion of hard-to-reach communities in outreach and follow-up

A model that leaves people behind

This fragmented model has real consequences, especially in Asia-Pacific, where gaps in health literacy, access, and cultural relevance run deep.

Across the region, accurate health information can be difficult to access. In rural Indonesia, for instance, over 90 million adults lacked internet access on mobile devices in 2019, especially outside major cities and thus making digital health campaigns effectively out of reach for large segments of the population. In many South Asian communities, reproductive health remains a sensitive or taboo subject. One study found that only 14% of Indonesian youth had comprehensive HIV knowledge, and 22% had no one in their network with whom they could discuss sexual health.

Language further divides communities. In rural Myanmar, for example, more than 135 ethnic groups speak different languages and dialects, making national health campaigns difficult to localise or translate in ways that feel relevant and culturally respectful. When health messaging relies solely on dominant national languages without adaptation, it misses key audiences, particularly those already underserved.

If we’re serious about reaching people, we must localise not just the language, but the approach. That means:

Partnering with trusted community leaders, health workers, and interpreters

Creating health materials in multiple dialects with cultural context

Using community radio, WhatsApp groups, and posters—not just digital platforms

Related: Health education: The missing lesson in our schools’ curriculum

EXPERT INSIGHT

Shifting from short-term awareness campaigns to a sustained, year-round culture of education and advocacy requires a collective mindset shift, viewing awareness not as a one-off event but as an ongoing movement. MyEndosis is taking concrete steps to integrate endometriosis care into hospitals, forge strategic partnerships with healthcare providers, and ensure continuous community engagement beyond March. We are advancing this goal forward through regular discussions, workshops, and the establishment of peer-to-peer support networks.

Visibility without continuity

Awareness days are fixed points in the calendar. Their structure makes them easier to plan, deliver, and evaluate, but that same structure can limit how deeply we engage with the issues they’re meant to highlight.

Year after year, we see the same visuals, slogans, and talking points, with little reflection on what has actually changed. The repetition creates a sense of recognition; but not necessarily understanding, urgency, or action.

Familiarity can make campaigns easier to approve and share, but it also makes them easier to ignore. Without continuity, even the most visible efforts risk becoming background noise.

Instead, we should build multi-year awareness strategies that go beyond the day. For example, a campaign on cervical cancer could begin with awareness and prevention messaging, evolve into mobile screening drives in underserved areas, and grow into policy advocacy for free HPV vaccination.

EXPERT INSIGHT

Surita shared that at MyEndosis, we are striving to sustain a long-term impact beyond March, taking inspiration from the breast cancer awareness movement, which originally centred on October but has since evolved into a year-round conversation. On a local level, MyEndosis' collaboration with universities, hospitals, and researchers continues to foster ongoing dialogue and action on endometriosis care in Malaysia. Our efforts have also contributed to the inclusion of endometriosis topics in Continuing Medical Education (CME) programs at select hospitals.

The cost of playing it safe

Many health campaigns end up comforting rather than confronting. They often prioritise uplifting stories and general advice, while avoiding the harder realities such as complexity, pain, or systemic failure.

This is rarely intentional. Most organisations want to inspire, not alienate. But when we avoid discomfort, we risk glossing over the deeper truths that matter most.

Real awareness demands courage. It means naming delays in diagnosis. Acknowledging underfunded care. Confronting stigma. And admitting when systems fail the people they are meant to serve.

To move forward, organisations must:

• Co-design campaigns with patients and caregivers, not just market to them
• Include testimonials that show the struggle, not just survivorship
• Challenge policies that marginalise communities or create barriers to timely care

EXPERT INSIGHT

The rise of social media has amplified awareness, but it has also introduced an element of performative activism. Social media undeniably gives a platform to patients, advocates, and healthcare professionals, democratising information building powerful communities. However, it also allows for hashtags without action and curated posts without commitment. The key is balance: using social media as a tool to educate, engage, and mobilise, while ensuring that offline efforts lead to real, tangible change for those living with the condition.

Rethinking the role of awareness

We need to stop thinking of awareness as a once-a-year reminder and start embedding it into everyday systems.

That means integrating health literacy into:

School curricula that build health literacy from a young age—so young people understand their bodies, mental health, and when to seek help

Workplace training that helps employees recognise early signs of stroke, and chronic conditions

Government communication that embeds health messages into everyday systems, and not just awareness campaigns

It also means designing with communities in mind. Language, culture, context, and trust all shape how people engage with health information. No hashtag can replace real healthcare reform.

EXPERT TIP

Surita believes that a truly impactful campaign in endometriosis would centre on the patient's voice and journey. It would combine storytelling with evidence-based education and policy advocacy, involving all stakeholders, including patients, doctors, employers, educators, and lawmakers, in a comprehensive ecosystem of support. Digital platforms would provide year-round resources, while schools and workplaces would adopt menstrual health policies. Most importantly, it would normalise open conversations about reproductive health, breaking down the stigma and silence that have kept women suffering in the shadows for far too long.

A call for more than a moment

We don’t need to eliminate awareness days. But we must stop treating them as the destination.

Let them be a spark, not the only light. Let them serve as a checkpoint, not the finish line.

If we truly believe in health equity, prevention, education, and care, then awareness must be embedded into systems, and not just into campaigns. It should be reflected in policy, community health, workforce training, and how we talk about health every day.

Because when we treat awareness as a campaign instead of a commitment, we fail the people who live with these realities every day.

One day was never enough. It still isn’t. And the people we serve deserve better.

EXPERT CONTRIBUTOR
Surita Mogan
Founder and President, Endometriosis Association of Malaysia (MyEndosis), Malaysia
Steering Committee, World Endometriosis Organization (WEO)
Instagram: @myendosis