Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in Schools- A neglected issue

Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) refers to the way in which women and girls deal with their menstruation. Girls usually menstruate for the first time between the age of 10 and 15. Learning about menstruation is thus vital for secondary school students, but it is not too early to raise awareness in elementary school. Given the number of people affected by MHM in some way or another, it is striking that the topic has widely been neglected until recently. With the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, MHM as part of the broader topic of WASH in Schools (WinS) plays a role for the achievement of several of the declared goals.

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) hosted a thematic discussion on the topic of Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in Schools. The four-week discussion took place on SuSanA’s online forum and was entitled “Menstrual Hygiene Management in Schools – A neglected issue” and focused on two themes in particular:

• Breaking the taboo around MHM (Thematic Lead: Dr. Marni Sommer)
• Infrastructural barriers and how to monitor MHM (Thematic Lead: Thérèse Mahon)

The main outcomes of the discussion, including various country reports, are covered in the synthesis report.