This dispatch aims to share lessons learned from the process of developing instruments to measure school participation, stress, and self-efficacy – outcomes that qualitatively link to girls’ experiences managing menstruation in school.
Summary Points: There is an absence of guidance, facilities, and materials for schoolgirls to manage their menstruation in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Summary Points: There is an absence of guidance, facilities, and materials for schoolgirls to manage their menstruation in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Menstrual hygiene remains a taboo in many settings, with poor knowledge and misconceptions as great a challenge as access to adequate facilities at both home and in school.
All children have the right to attend school and be actively engaged in their education without obstacles. Child-friendly environments are necessary for all children to thrive while at school.
El inicio de la menstruación presenta múltiples retos para las niñas escolares adolescentes. Muchas de ellas carecen de los conocimientos, apoyo y recursos para manejar la menstruación en la escuela.
The experiences girls face at school in Bolivia during menstruation had never been formally researched before this project. Data collection in Bolivia was part of a multi-country assessment of the challenges girls face in schools that included the Philippines, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.
From June through July 2012, Emory University and UNICEF collaborated in research aimed to understand the range of challenges faced by girls during menstruation in urban Freetown, as well as the determinants of those challenges.
Emory University, UNICEF Philippines, Plan Philippines and Save the Children Philippines carried out a qualitative assessment of menstruation-related challenges girls face in school.
Background. The onset of menstruation is a landmark event in the life of a young woman. Yet the complications and challenges that can accompany such an event have been understudied, specifically in resource-poor settings.