Zeba Khan, a PhD student and Public Scholar at UBC, works with the Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Lab, youth and clinical partners to develop the Period Pain is Real Pain Campaign to raise awareness and share information about period pain.
Beyond her research, Zeba is also the founder of a non-profit organization Free Periods Canada, which advocates for menstrual equity through the provision of menstrual products and menstrual health education. Through this community work, Zeba observed a significant lack of menstrual health education and accessible resources, particularly for young people. These observations played a role in shaping her interest in research on period pain and menstrual health.
“At Free Periods Canada, we wanted to understand why menstrual inequity exists. Why are we not talking about menstruation? Why are we not talking about period poverty? Why does the stigma exist? Through years of community engagement, I learned that if we truly want to eradicate period poverty and address the stigma around menstruation, we have to start at the root cause, which can only be addressed through education and awareness,” says Zeba.
After doing community work and seeing significant gaps in menstrual health research, awareness and education, Zeba joined UBC’s Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain lab for her PhD research, which focuses on youth and their experiences with period pain.
“My PhD project focuses on understanding young people's experiences of period pain and how they navigate the healthcare system. From there, my goal is to be able to generate educational materials, a web-based tool, and resources that can educate them and make them feel empowered to go and seek the care that they need,” says Zeba.
Zeba and UBC’s Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Laboratory collaborated with youth partners, clinicians and staff at the Women's Health Research Institute, and the BC Women's Centre for Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis to develop the website and the campaign Period Pain is Real Pain.
The website’s name was brainstormed by eight youth partners, aged 15 to 25, from across Canada, inspired by their experiences with period pain. The site offers a lot of valuable resources - from a simple quiz to understand the severity of period pain to educational tools and resources to help people better navigate their period.
“It was very much about working with youth to generate the initial ideas, so their voices and their needs are captured, working with clinicians and researchers to make sure the information is scientifically valid and then working with a media company to make sure that the messaging is coming across the way we want. It really is an interdisciplinary collaboration between different groups and different expertise,” Zeba explains.
Zeba encourages users of all ages to peruse the website as it is very easy to navigate, simple to follow, and not overwhelming.
To learn more about the Period Pain is Real Pain campaign, visit the website.
To learn more about Zeba Khan’s research, visit UBC News’ press release, When is period pain not normal? New website helps young people navigate when to seek care.