Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) and the Way Forward-A Brief Review

Abstract

Menstruating girls confront a variety of obstacles in school settings, challenges that can have an impact on their safety, education, health and wellbeing, and even their sense of self-worth. Global attention has recently been focused on the difficulties schoolgirls face managing their menstrual hygiene, especially in low-income countries. Therefore, enhancing Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) for girls globally will enhance their lifestyle in a variety of ways. It will also assist to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), such as SDG 3 on excellent health, SDG 4 on good education, SDG 5 on gender egalitarianism, and SDG 6 on the need for safe water and sanitation. Even though there are more evident supportive decisions and investments needed in policy and programming, remarkable progress has been made in the engagement of relevant sectors involved in this issue. To ensure MHM programs are furthering equality, it is still important to include groups for the larger agenda. Girls who are differently abled, school dropouts, girls in co-educational schools, and girls in emergency situations are some of the examples. By 2024, all girls should be made aware of and at ease with their menstrual cycles, and they should manage them in a pleasant, safe, and respectable manner while attending school. The "MHM in Ten" meeting, which was held in 2014, envisioned to create a ten-year framework (2014-2024) for MHM in schools. It was organized by UNICEF and Columbia University. In relevant to this vision, five remarkable priorities were established. This article summarizes the key insights to address and support the importance of global commitments towards MHM to expand its progress to reach its vision by 2024. This paper also reviews the present knowledge gaps in research on MHM in school-aged girls and emphasize prospects to draw the attention of government sectors, funders, and other organizations to allocate adequate resources. In summary, despite significant advances in the evidence base for MHM research, there are still a few critical disparities present in the current collective understanding. New studies are required to close these gaps which should suffice the needs of the international community to comprehend the scope of MHM problems among schoolgirls, the efficacy of MHM initiatives, and the expenses associated with their implementation. It is also necessary to create an efficient puberty policy for the educational field emphasizing MHM and menstruation education.