Educating Communities on the Importance of Menstrual Hygiene
Have you ever imagined not having access to a toilet or running water during your period? Or not having access to sanitary menstrual items? Or having deal with the feelings of shame, embarrassment, or isolation every month because of natural body function? These are situations that many of us do not think about, but they are the reality for many women and girls living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
On any given day, more than 800 million women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49 are menstruating anywhere from two to seven days. While menstruation is a normal and integral part of life, in many regions of the world menstruating women and girls are often viewed as “impure” and “contaminated.” Many of the views that individuals, including men and boys, have about menstruation are the result of lack of knowledge about menstruation, cultural practices, religious beliefs, and social myths about interacting with women during their period.
Taboos around menstruation are especially common in rural areas where some women are prohibited from touching food that others may eat, isolated from their family home, and not allowed to attend school due to the shame associated with their menstruation. In addition to the negative cultural attitudes and taboos, there are additional challenges associated with menstruation ranging from personal management of periods to issues such as related reproductive and sexual health issues and gender-based violence, which affect girls and women and their roles in their communities.
One country that has deep cultural taboos around menstrual hygiene is Nepal. In the far western region of the country, the harmful tradition of “chhaupadi” — when menstruating women and girls are isolated into separate huts or cowsheds — is practiced. This practice is harmful because many women and girls are denied nutritious food, prevented from bathing and accessing clean water sources used by villagers, and vulnerable to a heightened risk of sexual assault. Although the Nepal Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that chhaupadi was illegal, there are some remote districts in the country where the ruling is rarely enforced. However, several organizations are working within rural communities in Nepal to ensure that this practice is fully abolished.
One such organization is Restless Development Nepal, which, along with its partners KIRDARC and PEACEWIN, addresses discrimination against menstruating females by raising awareness among community leaders, men, and boys. Through the organization’s programmatic approach designed to reduce the prevalence of chhaupadi and provide social support and education to women during their menstruation, employees have trained over 130 peer educators, reduced the prevalence of women sleeping in chhaupadi huts from 20 percent to five percent, and provided educational activities to over 20,000 women and girls as well as 15,000 boys and men.
Other organizations such as Plan International, AFRIpads, and Days for Girls work in various countries, such as Uganda and India, to ensure that effective menstrual hygiene management includes a comprehensive approach of addressing women’s immediate needs of sanitary products and menstrual health-appropriate sanitation and hygiene facilities. These approaches in turn lead to women managing their menstrual health free of shame and guilt.
As a community we must ensure that menstrual hygiene management and education are incorporated more into water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), education, and sexual and reproductive health programs in LMICs. Doing so can boost the confidence of women and girls in managing their menstrual hygiene and help them stay in school to further their education and economic trajectory in society.
This year’s Menstrual Hygiene Day has come and gone, but we have to commit to prioritizing the topic all the time. We must ensure that education about menstruation and efforts to combat stigma continue to occur around the world daily. To learn more, join the conversation on Twitter using #MenstruationMatters.
Lanice Williams is a Policy Associate and a 2016–2017 Global Health Corps fellow at Global Health Council in Washington, DC. This post originally appeared on Global Health Council’s blog The Collective Voice. Follow Lanice on Twitter.
