The Diana Award, an international recognition for young people engaged in social action, announced 198 honorees from 44 countries during a virtual ceremony on November 4. Among the recipients is Aadvik Jain, an 18-year-old student from Delhi, India, who founded an initiative called Team Period to address menstrual stigma and health education.
Jain founded Team Period in 2024 alongside three classmates—Shivansh Arora, Aaratrika Jha Anand, and Navya Manglik—as part of a student newspaper program called Youth Power at Amity International School. The project was inspired by Jain’s observation of a close friend who experienced severe, untreated menstrual pain that impacted her education. The initiative has since expanded from a school competition into a grassroots organization focused on public health and cultural change.
Team Period utilizes workshops, street performances, and awareness campaigns to educate both male and female students about menstruation. Notable activities included a dance drama performed for 500 people in April 2025 and a campaign where students wore red patches on their uniforms to normalize menstrual stains. The group also installed a sanitary pad dispenser at their school and is researching disposal systems that use illustrated bags to protect waste sorters from exposure to used products.
On a per-person level, the impact of these educational efforts was documented through student surveys and individual reports. Jain noted that after the initiative’s campaign against the shame of menstrual stains, students reported a decrease in embarrassment regarding spotting. One 12-year-old boy reported that the skills learned in a Team Period workshop allowed him to assist his 9-year-old sister during her first period by providing a heating pad and sanitary products while they were alone at home. The organization has collected approximately 4,000 survey responses to date to measure changes in community attitudes toward menstruation and conditions like polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS).
The Diana Award does not provide direct funding to honorees, meaning the financial costs of expanding the program remain with the organizers. Jain stated that the group plans to decentralize by creating local chapters and recruiting volunteers who speak regional languages to reach communities beyond Delhi. This move comes as the founding members relocate for higher education; Jain is scheduled to begin studying medicine and public health at the University of Bologna in Italy in February. The organization is currently in discussions with companies to provide menstrual product dispensers to other schools at a nominal cost.