Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management in Nepal
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Girls interviewed during the peer ethnographic study, PSI Nepal 2017 SCOPING REVIEW AND PRELIMINARY MAPPING Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management in Nepal Population Services International Nepal Krishna Galli, Pulchowk Lalitpur 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This scoping review and preliminary mapping of Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management (MHM) in Nepal is one of the first of its kind in Nepal. Through this review, we studied in-depth the MHM situation in Nepal, bottlenecks and opportunities for the way forward. Many people and organizations were involved in the work put into this review. This research was conducted as part of a three-pilot project in partnership with Cristina Ljungberg, Founding Member of Maverick Collective, a philanthropic and advocacy initiative of Population Services International, and Founder and Chairman of Giving Wings, a Swedish foundation focused on education and healthcare for women and girls with a specific interest in menstrual hygiene. This project aims to understand the barriers preventing teen girls from accessing products for and education on their reproductive health, including menstrual hygiene, and to create the first girl-centered solutions to effectively address these barriers in Nepal. We would like to thank both Cristina and Gerda Larsson, Managing Director of Giving Wings Foundation, for their support in this critical work. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the organizations and persons who provided us the information and their valuable time to discuss MHM in Nepal. TEAM Dr. Khem B Karki Purna Chandra Poudel Jennifer Rothchild Natalie Pope Natacha C Bobin Yadav Gurung Machhindra Basnet Mahesh Poudel Lhamo Yangchen Sherpa First published June 2017. Uploading this publication to other sites without permission constitutes a breach of copyright. For citation: Karki, K. B., Poudel, P. C., Rothchild, J., Pope, N., Bobin, N. C., Gurung, Y., Basnet, M., Poudel, M., Sherpa, L. Y. SCOPING REVIEW AND PRELIMINARY MAPPING Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management in Nepal (pp. 1-96). 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................................................... 4 LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................................................. 4 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................................... 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 OBJECTIVES .......................................................................................................................................................................... 7 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................................................... 8 GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PROGRAMS ON MHM IN NEPAL .................................................................................... 8 KEY FINDINGS: STAKEHOLDERS AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS .......................................................................... 10 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................................................... 10 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................................... 13 OBJECTIVES........................................................................................................................................................................ 18 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................................................. 18 SCOPING REVIEW .............................................................................................................................................................. 18 PRELIMINARY MAPPING .................................................................................................................................................... 20 LIMITATIONS OF STUDY .................................................................................................................................................... 20 MHM IN GOVERNMENT POLICIES, STRATEGIES, AND GUIDELINES .......................................................................... 21 THEME 1: HEALTH .............................................................................................................................................................. 21 THEME 2: EDUCATION ....................................................................................................................................................... 22 THEME 3: SANITATION AND HYGIENE ............................................................................................................................ 22 GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS .............................................................................................................................................. 25 PROGRAMS, INTERVENTIONS, AND ACTIVITIES ON MHM IN NEPAL ......................................................................... 27 THEME 1: POLICY, GUIDELINES, AND PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT .............................................................................. 29 THEME 2: ADVOCACY ........................................................................................................................................................ 29 THEME 3: RESEARCH ......................................................................................................................................................... 29 THEME 4: CAPACITY BUILDING......................................................................................................................................... 30 THEME 5: EDUCATION AND AWARENESS ....................................................................................................................... 30 THEME 6: SANITARY PAD PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION ...................................................................................... 31 THEME 7: MHM-FRIENDLY SANITATION FACILITIES ...................................................................................................... 31 ASSESSMENT OF GAPS AND CHALLENGES TO ADDRESSING MHM IN NEPAL ....................................................... 32 GOVERNMENT POLICY AND PROGRAM GAPS AND CHALLENGES ............................................................................. 32 ORGANIZATION PROGRAM GAPS AND CHALLENGES .................................................................................................. 34 KEY FINDINGS ..................................................................................................................................................................... 36 STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS ............................................................................................................................................ 39 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................... 43 OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE GOVERNMENT ..................................................................................................................... 44 OPPORTUNITIES FOR ORGANIZATIONS ......................................................................................................................... 45 OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND DONOR AGENCIES .................................................................... 45 OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE MEDIA ................................................................................................................................... 45 CONCLUDING REMARKS ................................................................................................................................................... 45 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................................................... 47 ANNEXES ............................................................................................................................................................................. 51 4 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Policy Documents Related to Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in Nepal........................................................ 23 Table 2: MHM Programs, Projects, and Activities of Government Ministries in Nepal ............................................................... 26 Table 3: Thematic Areas of Work on MHM by Donors, INGOs, and NGOs ................................................................................. 27 Table 4: Contextual Analysis of Stakeholders for MHM Programming in Nepal ......................................................................... 37 Table 5: Stakeholder Partnerships for MHM Programs ................................................................................................................... 40 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Percentage of Women and Girls Who Experience Chhaupadi ....................................................................................