Dear Vivian and fellow researchers,
There was a good discussion on MHM issues recently in India - on WesNet.
Please find below one summary comment that I had posted after some exciting exchanges on this issue recently where there was a debate on blindly accepting existing MHM practices as failures and adopting western solutions in a developing country context;
The 3 concluding points I could gather on MHM;
1. There is tendency to ignore and learn from existing and past practices and jump to solutions that are very much in terms of converting a traditional practice into a commercial service, that comes with a cost and a service provider. We see this so often in WASH sector. Hand washing with soap is promoted and not ash or any other non commercial product. Boiling of water that is the most widely practiced improved behaviour change for household water treatment and SODIS, find less favour as compared to all other treatment options. Creating a market for pit latrine cleaning using septic systems promoted as a PPP solution for rural areas. There is a tendency in WASH Behaviour Change communication - to preach simple hygiene messages in WASH without trying to know why people do what they do and assuming that awareness is not there.

2. No all traditional practices may result in healthy and convenient solutions or be socially and individually acceptable today. If traditional practices are leading to serious impacts on womens health as is sometimes reported of young girls getting serious infections, then alternative solutions are needed. However if there is a potential for improving them with some changes( changing attitudes by removing stigma of drying the menstrual cloth in the open), and other prejudice – then its a better option than adopting a commercial service option(sanitary pad).

3. If womens hygiene requires privacy for bathing and cleaning, and that is not available, then that is perhaps a more critical priority to address menstrual hygiene.
The best solutions may be location and culture specific. Most of us who have worked in the WASH sector are weary of large national level programmes and promotional drives that ignore locally acceptable solutions based on a sound analysis and engagement with people/women and understanding of motivations that guide behaviours.

Best wishes.
Depinder Kapur

Hi Trevor,

Sorry, this project wasn't funded through an ongoing program on the topic, it was just a one-off grant from the Gates Foundation.

Good luck with your important work and all the best,
Vivian

Dear Vivian

Linah Maloka and I teach Menstrual Hygiene Management in South African Schools. See attachment. How do we apply for this grant or are we already late. Please share with us a link for application forms.

Trevor Mulaudzi

Hi Maria,

Sorry for my taking so long to respond to your question. In addition to the efforts made by South Africa, the Government of India has also expressed an intention to provide subsidized sanitary pads to poor rural women. See this news report (a bit outdated, I'm not up on the latest developments but others on this forum might know:

www.deccanherald.com/content/54082/sanit...ural-women-just.html

I believe WaterAid India is working on this issue and has good contacts in government, so they should know the latest - I would suggest emailing Sweta Patnaik, who is very knowledgeable about policy developments there.

All the best,
Vivian

Hi again
Attached you will find the proceeding from a HIgh level dialogue on Menstruation Management organized by the South African Knowledge node on Sustainable Sanitation at WRC in collaboration with the South African Government .As I am quite busy this morning I will also send the link to the proceedings from the first Global High level meeting on Menstruation Management taking place in Geneva on the 8th of March which Maxie refers to.
This was a very interesting event organized by WSSCC gather the global specialists within Menstruation Management and Sanitation . There were many other stakeholders from the private sectore , WHO etc invited. This is the link www.wsscc.org/sites/default/files/conten...ood_final_report.pdf
Enjoy .



++++++++++++
Note by moderator (EvM) to all: the SuSanA library now has 19 documents on the topic of Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM), which you can access here:
www.susana.org/library?search=MHM

If you notice that any important ones are missing, please let us know here.

Dear Maria
I am not sure about policies on promoting menstual hygiene management. However South Africa made a huge effort to bring this to a higher policy agenda. I participated 2011 in a High Level dialogues on Menstruation Management and there was a politcal will from highest level (President Zuma )at that time. Unfortunately I have not been able to follow this up. I will post the proceeding from the highlevel dialogue ,actually I think it should be available already in the library. Other wise I will attach it to another message in the stream.

Kind regards
madeleine

Hello everyone,

I especially like the following quote in the newest WSSCC report "Celebrating
Womanhood, How better menstrual hygiene management is the path to better health, dignity and business" that is based on Vivian's report:

"Menstrual cups can also carry this stigma, which is why Vivian Hoffmann’s research into
their acceptability focused on 960 married women from 60 villages in Bihar, India.
During the study, Hoffmann – an assistant professor of agriculture and rural economics
at the University of Maryland – interviewed women four times over eight months, having
been randomly selected at the first interview to receive a menstrual cup, sanitary napkins or a non-menstrual health product to try. Although menstrual cups have a high upfront cost – 695 INR compared to 31 INR for disposable sanitary products such as pads – they last for ten years and after two years become the more cost effective option. Before the research, 95% of women used sanitary cloths. Afterwards, 76% of women who had been given the cup preferred it."

Thanks for conducting this valuable research, Vivian!

Best,
Maxie

Dear Vivian,

My apology for mis-spelling your name. I am Maria Fernandes working for Wash United as a Program Manager for Menstrual Hygiene Management.

I am just looking for policies if any country has on promoting menstrual hygiene management, in this context just post my request about policy brief.

Thanks & regards

Maria

Dear Maria,
A warm welcome, and can you please briefly introduce yourself as it is your first post on the forum (like who you work for and what you do and where).

About the policy brief that you asked about: It was initially included in Vivian's first post, but Vivivan decided later to remove it. Instead, the two documents called "preliminary findings" in India and South Africa give you more up to date information (please scrol up to Vivian's first post), and are better than that policy brief was.

Regards,
Elisabeth


P.S. Vivian is called Hoffmann by last name, not Haffimann. I would say addressing her by her first name (Vivian) is fine.

Dear Haffimann,

Thanks for sharing this but I am unable to view policy brief attachment, can you please share the same.

Regards

Maria Fernandes
Wash United

Hi everyone,

A report by my partners on this project from the Stockholm Environmental Institute, Marianne Kjellén, Chibesa Pensulo, Petter Nordqvist and Madeleine Fogde, is now available online:

Global review of sanitation systems trends and interactions with menstrual management practices

www.susana.org/lang-en/library/library?v...eitem&type=2&id=1556

Great work on this and thanks for making it public, Marianne et al.!
Vivian

Dear Mr. Hoffmann,

I am Ananya Ghoshal, working in the Indian office of WASH United (nirmalbharatyatra.org/blog-posts/we%E2%8...check-out-new-office).

I was delighted to see your post as we have a component of MHM under the WASH-in-Schools Programme. It will be great if such studies occur more frequently and with larger samples and above all - are published. MHM is a real taboo in India and a lot more needs to be done on this issue.

Thanks and Regards,

Ananya