Menstrual Health and Hygiene
Menstruation is a natural biological process experienced by all girls, marking the onset of puberty. However, menstruation remains a taboo and stigmatized topic in many cultures and societies, leading to limited access to menstrual hygiene products, facilities, and education. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 1.8 billion girls and women menstruate every month, and about 50% of them lack access to safe and hygienic menstrual products, facilities, and education. This lack of access is particularly acute in low- and middle-income countries, where menstruation is often considered shameful or dirty and remains a source of social exclusion and gender inequality.
In many schools, girls face significant challenges in managing their menstrual hygiene, including inadequate or unsanitary facilities, lack of access to affordable and safe menstrual products, insufficient privacy and security, and inadequate education and support. These challenges can lead to absenteeism, dropouts, infections, and social exclusion, affecting girls’ academic performance, opportunities, and well-being.
To address these challenges, there has been a growing global movement to promote menstrual hygiene management in schools, focusing on improving access to menstrual products, facilities, education, and support. This movement recognizes the importance of menstrual hygiene management for girls’ health, education, and empowerment and seeks to promote gender-sensitive and inclusive approaches to MHM that address the root causes of stigma and discrimination.
Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is a significant problem in schools, particularly in rural areas and slams in rural urban areas, where girls lack access to safe and hygienic menstrual products, facilities, and education. The lack of proper MHM facilities, education, and resources can cause significant health, social, and educational problems for girls. Poor menstrual hygiene management can lead to absenteeism, dropouts, infections, and stigma, which affect girls’ academic performance and opportunities. The taboo and stigma surrounding menstruation also contribute to social exclusion and gender inequality. Therefore, there is an urgent need to address the challenges of menstrual hygiene management in schools and promote gender-sensitive and inclusive approaches to menstrual hygiene management. Magic events foundation in partnership with other local organizations spearheaded a campaign of running a project to teach the young girls in schools to make reusable sanitary pads in different schools around the district and this helped in increasing awareness and knowledge about menstruation and menstrual hygiene among girls. It also created support and enabling environment for girls to manage their menstrual hygiene with dignity and privacy and this reduced stigma, myths and taboos around menstruation and promoting gender equality and social inclusion.
Magic Event is a non-profit community based organisation that was founded with an aim of developing the potential of Ugandan child through education, health, environmental conservation and skills development.