Dec 20 2012
"Menstrual hygiene issues should be integrated into programs and policies across sectors, including water, sanitation and hygiene, reproductive health, emergency management, and education, notes a new report [.pdf]" by WaterAid, IRIN reports. Taboos and stigma associated with menstruation "leave many girls and women in low- and middle-income countries without access to sanitation facilities and excluded from school and opportunities," the news service writes. According to IRIN, the report "illustrates good menstrual hygiene-related policies and interventions, and provides modules and toolkits on topics such as sanitary materials; working with communities; providing sanitary facilities in schools and emergency situations; and aiding girls and women in vulnerable, marginalized or special circumstances," as well as "advocates further research and monitoring on these issues" (12/19).
This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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