Menstrual Health and Hygiene

Ganesh Lonkar

01 February 2024

Menstrual Health and Hygiene (MHH) is essential to the well-being and empowerment of women and adolescent girls.

On any given day, more than 300 million women worldwide are menstruating.  In total, an estimated 500 million lack access to menstrual products and adequate facilities for menstrual hygiene management (MHM). To effectively manage their menstruation, girls and women require access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities, affordable and appropriate menstrual hygiene materials, information on good practices, and a supportive environment where they can manage menstruation without embarrassment or stigma.

According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme 2012, menstrual hygiene management is defined as: 

“Women and adolescent girls are using a clean menstrual management material to absorb or collect menstrual blood, that can be changed in privacy as often as necessary, using soap and water for washing the body as required, and having access to safe and convenient facilities to dispose of used menstrual management materials.
They understand the basic facts linked to the menstrual cycle and how to manage it with dignity and without discomfort or fear.” 

The challenges that menstruating girls, women, and other menstruators face encompass more than a basic lack of supplies or infrastructure.

While menstruation is a normal and healthy part of life for most women and girls, in many societies, the experience of menstruators continues to be constrained by cultural taboos and discriminatory social norms.
The resulting lack of information about menstruation leads to unhygienic and unhealthy menstrual practices and creates misconceptions and negative attitudes, which motivate, among others, shaming, bullying, and even gender-based violence.
For generations of girls and women, poor menstrual health and hygiene is exacerbating social and economic inequalities, negatively impacting their education, health, safety, and human development.