World Sexual Health Day 2026
What is World Sexual Health Day?
World Sexual Health Day is celebrated annually on 4 September to raise awareness about the importance of sexual health, rights, justice and pleasure for ALL.
Background
WSHD was first launched in 2010 by Rosemary Coates of Australia during her WAS Presidency. This important day brings people together worldwide to promote sexual health, rights, justice, and pleasure.
One of the essential things WSHD focuses on is recognizing sexual health as a human right, just like the WAS Sexual Rights Declaration did 25 years ago.
World Sexual Health Day is vital to WAS’s mission to bring Sexual Health, Rights, Justice, and Pleasure to ALL. So let’s join in celebrating this important day!
Goals
WSHD aims to promote education, dialogue, and action around sexual health and rights to ensure that everyone has access to accurate information and services.
WAS calls on everyone – governments, organizations, healthcare providers, advocates, and the media – to promote consent as a fundamental aspect of sexual rights.
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WSHD promotes the need to make sexual health a global priority. It is also a day to celebrate and honor our rights to pleasure, autonomy, and respect.
2026 Theme
The theme for WSHD 2026 is Every Body​
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​Written as two words, Every Body keeps the body in view. But this theme is not about reducing people to their bodies. It is about recognizing that every person — for as long as they are alive — has a body, and that what determines whether that body experiences sexual health, rights, justice, and pleasure is rarely the body itself.​​
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It asks us to hold both words in mind at once: every person, and the body they inhabit. Because sexual health is always lived in a body — and not all bodies move through the world on equal terms.
We're hard at work compiling the WSHD 2026 resources.
Remember, WSHD is more than a day. You’re invited to acknowledge and promote Sexual Justice - not only on 4th September but throughout the entire year.
