Adolescent menstrual health must go beyond pads

Somner, Marni, Hennegan, Julie, Muralidharan, Arundati, Kabiru, Caroline W, Mahon, Therese and Phillips-Howard, Penelope ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1018-116X (2025) 'Adolescent menstrual health must go beyond pads'. British Medical Journal (BMJ), Vol 388, e077515.

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Abstract

Menstruation and the menstrual cycle are important aspects of female health and wellbeing across the lifespan from menarche, the first menstrual period, to menopause (1–3). Adolescent girls and women worldwide consistently report negative experiences with menstruation, including missed or delayed diagnosis of menstrual disorders. These issues have far-reaching consequences for their wellbeing, education, livelihood opportunities, empowerment, and overall health (4–6). In response, investment in menstrual health (see Box 1) during adolescence is increasingly recognised as a pathway to mitigate these consequences and address gender inequality. This was emphasized in 2022 when the World Health Organization declared menstrual health as a health and human rights issue and not solely a hygiene issue (7). The emerging concept of menstrual justice highlights how harmful power structures and social norms result in menstrual related discrimination in many spheres of life that impede menstrual health (8).

Despite increased attention, data on adolescent girls’ menstrual health is insufficient across countries. The absence of data on girls’ multidimensional requirements for menstrual health renders these challenges invisible. For this and likely other reasons, the media, donors, governments, and implementers have concentrated on menstrual pads as a ‘quick fix’, tangible, and easily measurable solution. Competing health and human rights priorities with stronger and more well-established links to female morbidity and mortality also limit the funding available to expand the evidence base on menstrual health. Better data from well-resourced rigorous research would serve to inform the development of more comprehensive, impactful, and cost-effective interventions (9). Current gaps must be addressed by increasing the visibility of menstrual health in monitoring efforts, research, and the development and implementation of contextually grounded interventions (10). This in turn would enable a move away from a narrow focus on the provision of pads to address the complexity of adolescent girls’ menstrual health needs.

In this analysis, we focus on adolescent girls due to the unique needs and critical importance of investing in this age group, with an emphasis on low resource settings, though the insights have global relevance. Although not discussed here, women and others who menstruate are important to consider in a broader menstrual health agenda. We also focus on menstrual pads rather than other products (e.g., cups, panties) because single-use pads are the most commonly provided menstrual material in government, donor, and programmatic initiatives targeting girls.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	WP Gynecology > WP 20 Research (General) WS Pediatrics > By Age Groups > WS 450 Puberty WS Pediatrics > By Age Groups > WS 460 Adolescence (General)
Faculty: Department:	Clinical Sciences & International Health > Clinical Sciences Department Clinical Sciences & International Health > International Public Health Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2023-077515
Depositing User:	Jane Rawlinson
Date Deposited:	19 Feb 2025 08:36
Last Modified:	19 Feb 2025 08:36
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/25596

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