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Importance of Menstrual Hygiene

Menstrual Health and Hygiene (MHH) is crucial for the empowerment of women and girls, yet over 500 million lack access to necessary products and facilities. Challenges include cultural taboos and misinformation, leading to unhealthy practices and exacerbating social inequalities. A multi-sectoral approach combining education, infrastructure, and supportive policies is essential for improving menstrual health outcomes.

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5 views1 page

Importance of Menstrual Hygiene

Menstrual Health and Hygiene (MHH) is crucial for the empowerment of women and girls, yet over 500 million lack access to necessary products and facilities. Challenges include cultural taboos and misinformation, leading to unhealthy practices and exacerbating social inequalities. A multi-sectoral approach combining education, infrastructure, and supportive policies is essential for improving menstrual health outcomes.

Uploaded by

monismirza298
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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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.

The multi-dimensional issues that menstruators face require multi-sectoral interventions. WASH
professionals alone cannot come up with all of the solutions to tackle the intersecting issues of
inadequate sanitary facilities, lack of information and knowledge, lack of access to affordable and quality
menstrual hygiene products, and the stigma and social norms associated with menstruation. Research
has shown that approaches that can effectively combine information and education with appropriate
infrastructure and menstrual products, in a conducive policy environment, are more successful in
avoiding the negative effects of poor MHH – in short, a holistic approach requiring collaborative and
multi-dimensional responses.

By *Veg Mohd Monis Aleem*

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