Water, Sanitation and Menstruation

Welcome back to my third blog. Previously, I wrote about water collection and the dangers surrounding this undervalued task. Now, I will be moving on to another topic which is often avoided as it is seen as uncomfortable and embarrassing. However, I want us to probe this topic together as many young girls and women are suffering because of the lack of WASH facilities. In addition to this, a lack of awareness, knowledge and stigmatisation in communities are catalysing poor health and hygiene.

Menstrual Hygiene and Management (MHM):

According to both UNICEF and WHO, MHM is defined as the access to sanitary materials that be used during menstruation and the access to facilities to dispose of these materials in the most hygienic manner (Water Aid, 2018). Globally, an alarming figure of 500 million women lack access to menstrual products and they lack access to WASH facilities to maintain MHM (The World Bank, 2022). 


                                                                                    Figure 1: MSM training in a Kenyan school. The World Bank (2018).

Social Taboo:

Menstruation is often associated with social taboos and cultural stigmatisation which results in the topic being silenced by communities. Culturally, when women menstruate, they are seen as being unclean and impure, therefore they would be excluded from many activities such as eating with families, attending school etc. According to a survey distributed by Plan International, 1 in 3 boys believe that periods is a private matter and many respondents used words like 'disgusting,' and 'dirty' to describe menstruation (Plan International, 2022). As women are ashamed, embarrassed and fearful of discussing their experiences, this results in a lack of information which leads to unhygienic and unsafe practices, for example not being aware of the importance of washing hands with soap properly after disposing of a menstrual product. 

When UNICEF and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council convened a MHM symposium, attendance was quite poor in comparison to sessions on education and financing (Water Aid, 2018), and therefore this highlights the issue of social taboo, where many boys and girls are embarrassed to talk about such an important topic. 

Lack of Infrastructure:

In Nigeria, there is a lack of hand-washing facilities on premises but there is a difference between the urban and rural. 88% of women reported that they have no hand-washing facilities, whereas 92% of women in rural areas reported this to be the case (Das, 2017). A lack of such facilities as well as a lack of soap can stimulate the spread of diseases such as hepatitis B (World Bank, 2022). Furthermore, a lack of adequate toilets and a lack of disposable facilities can result in problems such as reproductive and urinary tract infections (World Bank, 2022) therefore emphasising the issue of MHM in certain communities. 

Conclusion:

Water, sanitation and menstruation share an important relationship in regards to gender in Africa. Good MHM cannot happen simply with just an improvement in physical water infrastructure, but cultural reforms (an issue highlighted in my previous blog) are required. Even if 'experts and professionals' try to help improve MHM in African regions by holding sessions about menstrual hygiene and construction of facilities, the attitude towards menstruation will need to change first in order for men and women to acknowledge the importance of water and sanitation in relation to menstruation. Only then, will we see an engagement of communities in discussions. 





 

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