Australia’s hidden women’s health crisis costs billions

Heavy menstrual bleeding is frequently viewed as a private inconvenience, yet emerging data frames it as a major economic burden. The Women and Infants Research Foundation (WIRF) hosted Dr. Jacqueline Maybin in Perth last week to examine this scale. A clinician-scientist from the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Reproductive Health, Dr. Maybin detailed how the condition affects women’s health, employment, and daily routines. The gathering took place at the University Club of Western Australia and served as the WIRF 2026 Scientific Dialogue.

The financial toll is considerable. Studies involving 1,796 Australian working women estimate that period pain and heavy bleeding drain the national economy by roughly $14 billion each year. This cost extends beyond missed days at work.

It also includes presenteeism, a scenario where staff attend their duties but operate at reduced capacity due to pain, sleep disruption, and iron deficiency.

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Presenteeism and the Hidden Workforce Cost

Many employees continue their jobs while managing significant blood loss and physical discomfort. Some plan their days around bathroom access or carry spare clothing to handle unexpected leakage. Others miss work, education, and professional opportunities entirely. Dr. Maybin noted that despite affecting up to one in three women of reproductive age, the condition remains under-reported.

“Women are not functioning at their best. We need to address it and have robust ways of identifying heavy menstrual bleeding,” Dr. Maybin said. The economic burden stems from both absenteeism and presenteeism. It is a widespread workforce issue that hides in plain sight, often dismissed as something women must simply endure.

Why the Condition Remains Unspoken

Normalisation is a major barrier to seeking help. Heavy periods often run in families, leading girls to believe significant bleeding is normal if their mothers or grandmothers had similar symptoms. Instead of recognizing a health issue, they learn to manage and conceal it. “Normalisation within families is one of the reasons it is not talked about,” Dr. Maybin explained. “Menstruation remains an unspoken topic because of the societal taboo around it, and sometimes women’s experiences are dismissed.”

This silence is reinforced by the way healthcare treats menstruation. If another part of the body were bleeding heavily and repeatedly, it would prompt urgent clinical concern. Menstrual bleeding, however, is rarely measured with the same urgency as blood pressure or heart rate. This is why the condition has been described as the “missed vital sign.” Dr. Maybin leads Wellcome Leap’s The Missed Vital Sign, a three-year global research program aiming to transform how abnormal bleeding is identified and treated.

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The lack of robust quantification methods means women may not recognize their experience as abnormal. Healthcare professionals, in turn, may lack the data needed for early diagnosis. “We need good diagnostics and good treatments,” Dr. Maybin said. “We are working on quantification methods that we want to become the norm, so healthcare professionals can better identify women experiencing heavy menstrual bleeding.”

It is worth noting that the current system often forces women to endure years of symptoms before receiving help. Dr. Maybin envisions a system where a woman receives support after experiencing only a small number of unusually heavy periods, not after decades of managing the condition alone. “I imagine a world where a woman may have two or three heavy periods, but not 60, before the problem is identified and she receives help,” she said.

Achieving that will require better diagnostic tools, stronger clinical awareness and more personalised treatments. Some women cannot use hormonal therapies, experience side effects or want an alternative. “There are good treatment options available, but there is still a gap for women who want or need alternative methods,” Dr. Maybin said. “We need accessible, convenient and specific treatments that can be personalised for individual women.” Workplace flexibility and supportive policies have an important role, but policy alone will not change health outcomes. Australia must also invest in earlier identification, accurate diagnosis and a wider range of effective treatments.