Here is an updated link to the document  

More comments are welcome.

Machrine Birungi
Social media analyst

Dear Canady,
Thank you so much for reading through the document and for your passion for menstrual Health and Hygiene.

Your feedback too is highly appreciated and I will forward this to our technical team for review.

Thank you again for your support.

Kind regards,
Machrine

Dear Machrine,

Congrats on this important project. I promote menstrual cups among indigenous women here in the Amazon.

Here are a few comments on the text:

p. 3 -- To say " In rural areas, preferred materials are ..." seems to imply that these women know, understand, and have access to all the different options, so I would suggest saying "In rural areas, women often use ...".

p. 8 -- It should be added that recent studies have shown that the long-term use of disposable pads can be bad for health because of the absorbent chemicals they contain. This same concern applies to disposable diapers for babies. (I trust you can easily find these studies.)

p. 9 -- The number of types of pads is so long that it is important to use each name of pad consistantly. What is the difference between a Reusable Cloth Pad and a Biodegradable Cloth Pad, if the cloth is made of natural fiber, like cotton? If it is biodegradable, why not dispose of it in a compost pile or simply a dedicated hole in the ground?

p. 11 -- There is a space missing: "vaginaat" should be "vagina at".

p. 13 -- I suggest changing "Menstrual cups are simple to use in relation to ease and discretion of washing, drying,storing, comfort, leakage protection, odour development, quality, and length of wear. " to "Menstrual cups are simple and easy to use, wash, dry, and store. They are comfortable, secure against leakage, and do not generate odours. Since they can be worn longer than other options, women can sleep all night without worry. "

     -- The sections on Size and Type should be combined, since under Type it only talks about size.

     -- When boiling a menstrual cup, the key thing is to not let the pot boil dry, because the cup would get destroyed. In addition to when cups are new, they also should be boiled at least once a month, between the one  and the next.

     -- Clean, safe piped water is not always available, especially in rural areas of developing countries. For this reason, women should be encouraged to boiled water, rainwater, or even their own urine for washing their hands and their menstrual cups. Yes, I said urine, which is simply the body's excess blood serum, it is nice and warm, it is extremely available, and it has antiseptic properties. I have confirmed this idea with numerous medical doctors and medical students; some are surprised at first, but all support the idea. In the literature, there are a few cases of women suspecting menstrual cups of causing infections and I suspect that it was not the cup, per se, but rather the bad quality piped water. Also, I have never previously seen the recommendation of washing a menstrual cup with soap and I think that this may degrade the cup over time. (See our instructions, attached.)

p. 14 -- "9. TIME: You can wear a cup up to 12 hours, but depending upon your flow, you may have to empty it twice a day." contradicts itself, so I would suggest changing it to "9. TIME: You can normally wear a cup up to 12 hours, but, depending upon your flow, you may have to empty it more often."

p. 15 -- Given that wastewater treatment is never 100% effective and, in many places, there is no wastewater treatment, it is more hygienic and ecological to empty menstrual cups into small holes in the soil, even of potted plants inside the home. The nutrients go back to the plants and the river stays cleaner.

     -- The first recommendation is redundant.

p. 18 -- General terms should embrace all of the various options, so I recommend saying, "They need somewhere private to change menstrual products" ... and "before and after use of menstrual products".

p. 19 -- "before and after blowing your nose" ... "Before and after using menstrual products."

I hope these comments are useful.

Best wishes,
Chris Canaday

Since 2012, WSSCC has been working with governments to address historical gender inequalities, discrimination  and social injustice in WASH and beyond, using menstrual health and hygiene as an entry point. Capacity development is an important part of this and in India alone, WSSCC has trained more than 1,645 qualified trainers in recent years, the majority of them being from local government. This booklet serves as a complementary tool to be used by trainers in South Asia in their interaction with women and girls, boys and men, to discuss the safe use, care and disposal of materials used during menstruation in a variety of situations. Download here

Please kindly drop a comment to let us know what you think about this resource.

Machrine Birungi,
Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council