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Menstrual Health Management in East and Southern Africa: a Review Paper

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Menstrual Health Management in East and Southern Africa: a Review Paper Menstrual Health Management in East and Southern Africa: a Review Paper Siri Tellier and Maria Hyttel, WoMena Table of Contents Abbreviations 1 Acknowledgments 2 1. Introduction 3 2. Impact of Inadequate Menstrual Health Management 9 3. Enablers and Barriers for Menstrual Health Management 15 4. MHM in Humanitarian Contexts 27 5. Conclusions and Recommendations 31 6. References 36 2 Abbreviations BMI Body Mass Index CSE Comprehensive Sexuality Education CRC Commission on the Rights of the Child ESARO UNFPA East and Southern Africa Regional Office FGD Focus Group Discussion HMLICs High, Middle and Low Income Countries HRC Human Rights Council IASC Inter-Agency Standing Committee ICPD International Conference on Population and Development, 1994 IFRC International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies IRC International Rescue Committee IUD Intrauterine Contraceptive Device (sometimes referred to as IUCD) KAP Knowledge, Attitude and Perceptions LSHTM London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine LSTM Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine MDGs Millennium Development Goals MHM Menstrual Hygiene Management or Menstrual Health & Management NGO Non-Governmental Organization QALY Quality-Adjusted Life Year RCT Randomised Controlled Trial RTI Reproductive Tract Infections SDGs Sustainable Development Goals SRHR Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UN-OHCHR United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights UN Women United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women WASH Water, Sanitation and Hygiene WHO World Health Organization 1 Acknowledgments This report has been commissioned by UNFPA East and Southern Africa Regional Office, under the leadership of Dr. Julitta Onabanjo, Regional Director, with technical support from Maja Hansen, Adolescent and Youth Specialist. The report was written by Siri Tellier and Maria Hyttel, with major contributions by Andisheh Jahangir (reference management) and Marianne Tellier (conclusions and recommendations). For country grey literature main contributions were made by: Anna Bezruki, Christina Sidsel Dalsgaard, Hanna Hildenbrand, Petra Järvinen, Bianca Luff, Diana Lundgren, Hanna Norelius, Siv Steffen Nygaard, Chloe Simpson, Katrine Holmegaard Sørensen, Camilla Thomsen, Liesbeth van den Bossche, Natasha Wrang and Maria Zabell. All are volunteers with the Non-Governmental Organization WoMena, and the work was part of its Knowledge Management. The authors gratefully acknowledge the inputs and support from the Menstrual Hub, and through them a large range of actors who responded generously to the request for grey and peer-reviewed literature. We are also deeply grateful for helpful comments by Julie Hennegan (Postdoctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health), Penelope Phillips-Howard (Senior Lecturer, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine) and Marni Sommer (Associate Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health). 2 UNFPA © Acknowledgments UNFPA © 1. Introduction Menstruation, and Menstrual Health Management (MHM), have always been an issue for women. However, they are also issues which have been considered private, and sometimes shameful. It is therefore remarkable how quickly public attention has grown since the turn of the millennium. Many different factors and actors have contributed External factors may also have contributed to the to this change. International and national activists increased attention to MHM. As birth rates and age at and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have menarche decrease, women are faced with MHM for advocated to break down taboos and strengthen more years. It has also been suggested that there has response, and initiated pilot projects. UN organizations been great success in diminishing gender inequality and governments have developed goals and standards in primary school education, and therefore attention is at global, regional and national levels. Key universities turning to factors which might cause girls to drop out have had a consistent research focus, helping define of secondary education, including inadequate MHM. ‘good-enough’ evidence. Menstrual products, such as the disposable pad, tampon or reusable cup, MHM is now widely recognized as a rights and a were first introduced in the 1930s. But more recent development issue. While the Millennium Development innovations have improved their range, quality, safety Goals (MDGs) made no reference to MHM, the and availability, for example reusable or biodegradable Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) do so products, and using experience to improve safety. (indirectly) under Goal 3 (Good Health and well-being), Knowledge technologies such as menstrual calendar 4 (Quality Education), 5 (Gender Equality), 6 (Clean apps have also been developed. Water and sanitation), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and 12 (Responsible consumption and 3 production). It is also essential for the advancement issue within its country programmes as part of the of the Programme of Action of the International broader SRHR focus. Conference on Population and Development. Human rights processes made little, if any, reference to the This literature review was commissioned by the UNFPA issue before 2012, but for example in 2016 reference East and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO). It was made in four different human rights fora, both as a is intended to form the basis for a situational analysis precondition for attaining other rights such as health or of the current state of menstrual health management education, and also as an issue of dignity in its own right. in East and Southern Africa (ESA) that can guide UNFPA ESARO in the development of a strategic and 1.1 Purpose of the Review holistic approach to MHM, including its approach to humanitarian situation, within its corporate strategic At the operational level, the field of MHM is complex goals and principles (UNFPA, 2017). and overlaps with many sectors. Sommer et al. (2015a) find that past attention from international actors The review is links MHM to consensus documents has come mainly from the education and the water, such as SDGs and is informed by the principles sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sectors, focusing on of the Programme of Action of the International how inadequate MHM negatively impacts girls’ school Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), attendance or engagement. Many small-scale projects adopting a life cycle approach (looking at the issue have been undertaken, but one challenge at this point of MHM throughout the life cycle, from menarche to seems to be translating these experiences into scalable menopause), and providing informed choice (access and sustainable solutions, with a realistic combination to the widest possible range of safe, effective and of ‘hardware’ (e.g. provision of water and sanitation or acceptable means to manage menstruation, and menstrual products) and ‘software’ (e.g. education information to make a choice among those means). It and advocacy). will also be informed by the UNFPA strategic goal of empowering young people, especially adolescent girls and In the field of sexual and reproductive health and women, contributing to the benefit which individuals rights (SRHR), Sommer finds that there has been and societies can draw from the ‘demographic less attention to MHM, and hypothesizes that this dividend’1 and hence, contributing to the achievement may be because the main focus in SRHR has been on of Africa’s Agenda 2063: The Africa we want. girls above the age of 15 years, who are more at risk for sexually transmitted infections and unintended As noted above, at the global level there is incomplete, pregnancy (2015a). Indeed, overall strategies on but rather convincing, evidence being assembled in reproductive health seem to place little explicit focus some areas of MHM. This review attempts to build on MHM. For example, the 2015 Global Strategy for on this evidence. It highlights available literature Women’s, Children’s and Adolescent’s Health makes no from the 23 ESA countries2, but in cases where reference to the topic. there is no or limited literature, it also refers to other regions. The review is exploratory, identifying possible The humanitarian sector (particularly UNFPA) was linkages to SRHR-related issues that may not have early to identify MHM as an issue, but many observers received much attention to date. It aims to provide note that this has not translated into more strategic an overview of MHM policies and programmes in approaches. Sommer hypothesizes that this is because the ESA region, with a focus on education, school MHM is not typically seen as a life-threatening issue and community-based sexuality education, WASH, (Sommer et al., 2016d). UNFPA was instrumental sexual and reproductive health, workplace support and in introducing MHM into humanitarian settings humanitarian programming, as well as opening up the (introducing ‘dignity kits’), and has begun a number discussion regarding marginalized groups of women of country-level approaches to improve MHM in these and girls such as disabled, prisoners and transgender settings, but does not yet have an overall approach or men. It addresses barriers and enablers for scalability of corporate technical guidance on how to position the MHM programmes such as knowledge, attitudes, and 1 ‘Countries with the greatest demographic opportunity for development
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