Women’s Menstrual Hygiene Matters!

Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) is defined as: “women and adolescent girls using a clean menstrual management material to absorb and collect blood, which can be changed in privacy as often as necessary for the duration of the period, using soap and water for washing the body as required and having access to facilities to dispose of used menstrual management materials”. It is vital to the empowerment and well-being of women and girls worldwide. Menstrual Hygiene management is about more than just access to sanitary pads and appropriate toilets – although those are important. It is also about ensuring women and girls live in an environment that values and supports their ability to manage their menstruation with dignity. It, therefore, encompasses the services, policies, information, attitudes, practices, commodities, and facilities that increase women’s and girls’ agency and their ability to live a healthy and dignified life. 

At least 500 million women and girls globally lack adequate facilities for menstrual hygiene management (MHM). In Tanzania 38% of schools have no water facilities, while 63% of school latrines don’t have a place to dispose of sanitary pads, also 48 % of school girls miss school due to menstruation. The absence of accurate and complete information about menstrual physiology and hygiene, limited access to menstrual information and hygiene commodities, inadequate WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) facilities, particularly in public places, such as schools, workplaces, or health centers, pose a major obstacle to equal opportunities for women and girls. The lack of separate toilets with doors that can be safely closed, or the unavailability of disposable and water facilities means that women and girls have difficulty in maintaining their menstrual hygiene in a private, safe, and dignified manner. This is a violation of a range of rights, including right to privacy, right to dignity, and right to health.

However, menstrual health issues have not been given enough attention and remain to be unspoken topics surrounded by taboos, stigma, socio-cultural and religious restrictions, and isolation in Tanzanian society.  In many cultures of the Tanzanian Society, menstruating women are considered impure and are excluded or restricted from participating in day-to-day public activities, such as education, some economic activities including employment, sports, cultural and religious events.his exclusion results to inequality, discrimination, and gender-based violence against menstruating women and girls;  which have lasting implications throughout their life.

To address these menstrual health issues, this year’s May 28 International Day of Action for Women’s Health campaign, Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Right Africa (WGNRR-Africa) organized an online event bringing together local partners, development partners, and the government with a purpose of showcasing how young people have been able to influence change in their communities and highlighting the success stories of the Tanzania Youth Advocates Champions Academy (YAS) project which sought to challenge menstruation stigma and mobilize national solidarity around menstrual health and hygiene of teenage girls and young women in Tanzania. The event brought in the voices of adolescent girls sharing their challenges and their effort towards addressing these.

Maria, a 13-year-old girl from Kigoma region in Tanzania, shared her story on the challenges that she and her peers go through during menstruation.  She explained that there is limited access to accurate information on menstruation health management and body changes, the school environments are not supportive of her and her fellow peers, toilets have no water, no doors to close when one is using the toilet, it is not separate from the rooms used by boys and no disposal mechanism for the used menstrual kits,  and, due to that, they are forced not to come to school for a maximum of 3 to 5 days during menstruation until they complete their menstrual days. Also, Maria says that her and her peers feel lonely and cannot participate with other peers in sports and other school activities. Maria also shared that the boys and male teachers have no knowledge of menstruation hence having no support.  Moreover, she stressed that they experienced stigma from their parents and their societies. “During menstruation, we are not supposed to eat with others or cook family food, our parents also do not support the use of the modern menstrual product. They insist on the use of traditional methods which are unhygienic and can cause a long-term impact on our reproductive systems,” says Maria. In her story, she said that challenges have been leading to low academic performances, absenteeism, and the increase of unplanned pregnancies since girls do not understand their body changes and how to respond to biological changes. She has been part of a school club formed by WGNRR-Africa trained by YAS (AISHA) to educate girls and boys in and out of school, conduct advocacy work for the school and community health committee to improve the environments and challenge social-cultural, and religious attitudes and stigma. Maria ended her sharing by saying that her story is a voice to the voiceless.

The event provided an advocacy window where young people engaged with the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MoH) and raised their concerns on the implementation of CSE and menstrual product tax free policy in Tanzania, it also provided an avenue for partners to learn the approaches used by WGNNRR and the YAS in addressing menstrual issues in the respective communities.

Women’s Menstrual Hygiene Management Matters, friendly policies and a supportive MHM environment that provides education, commodities, and adequate WASH facilities are essential to providing equal opportunity for all girls, women, and all menstruators. Therefore the responsible ministries (MoH), developmental partners, civil society should join the effort to ensure healthy and safe menstruation for all girls.