Trial reportPloS one2016
Menstruation and the Cycle of Poverty: A Cluster Quasi-Randomised Control Trial of Sanitary Pad and Puberty Education Provision in Uganda.
Trial report in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Menstruation among In-School Adolescent Girls and Its Literacy and Practices in Nigeria: A Systematic Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Pooled it
- Systematic review of educational interventions to improve the menstrual health of young adolescent girls.BMJ open · 2022Pooled it
- Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Implications for the COVID-19 Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Adolescent Menstrual Health Literacy in Low, Middle and High-Income Countries: A Narrative Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Exploring menstrual products: A systematic review and meta-analysis of reusable menstrual pads for public health internationally.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Measurement in the study of menstrual health and hygiene: A systematic review and audit.PloS one · 2020Pooled it
- Menstrual cup use, leakage, acceptability, safety, and availability: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The Lancet. Public health · 2019Pooled it
- Puberty and menstruation knowledge among young adolescents in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review.International journal of public health · 2019Pooled it
- Effect of a creative drama-based educational ıntervention on menstrual attitudes and genital hygiene behaviors in adolescent girls: a randomized controlled trial.BMC public health · 2026Trial
- Effects and costs of a multi-component menstrual health intervention (MENISCUS) on mental health problems, educational performance, and menstrual health in Ugandan secondary schools: an open-label, school-based, cluster-randomised controlled trial.The Lancet. Global health · 2025Trial
- Acceptability of and experiences with menstrual hygiene cups among adolescent girls and young women aged 15-24 in two communities in Lusaka, Zambia: an exploratory study nested in the Yathu Yathu trial.Reproductive health · 2025Trial
- Effects of sanitary pad distribution and reproductive health education on upper primary school attendance and reproductive health knowledge and attitudes in Kenya: a cluster randomized controlled trial.Reproductive health · 2021Trial
- Defined by blood: lived experiences of menstrual health through the lifecourse among women in Zimbabwe - a qualitative study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Access to WASH facilities and health implications of period poverty among in-school girls in rural areas of Africa: a scoping review.BMC public health · 2026Article
- "Healthy bodies, healthy minds": barriers and solutions to implementing a menstrual hygiene management program in South Sudan.Reproductive health · 2026Article
- Policy to practice: insights from implementation of a school-based sanitary napkin distribution programme in Odisha, India.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- [Knowledge, attitudes and practices of adolescent girls about menstrual hygiene in Kisangani].The Pan African medical journal · 2025Article
- Understanding menstrual factors associated with poor mental health among female secondary school students in Uganda: a cross-sectional analysis.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2024Article
- High uptake of menstrual health information, products and analgesics within an integrated sexual reproductive health service for young people in Zimbabwe.Reproductive health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPoor menstrual knowledge and access to sanitary products have been proposed as barriers to menstrual health and school attendance. In response, interventions targeting these needs have seen increasing implementation in public and private sectors. However, there has been limited assessment of their effectiveness.
objectivesAssess the impact of providing reusable sanitary pads and puberty education on girls' school attendance and psychosocial wellbeing outcomes.
methodsA cluster quasi-randomised controlled trial was conducted across 8 schools, including 1124 girls, in rural Uganda. Schools were allocated to one of four conditions: the provision of puberty education alone; reusable sanitary pads alone; puberty education and reusable sanitary pads; and a control (no intervention). The primary outcome was school attendance. Secondary outcomes reflected psychosocial wellbeing.
resultsAt follow-up, school attendance had worsened for girls across all conditions. Per-protocol analysis revealed that this decline was significantly greater for those in the control condition d = 0.52 (95%CI 0.26-0.77), with those in control schools having a 17.1% (95%CI: 8.7-25.5) greater drop in attendance than those in any intervention school. There were no differences between the intervention conditions. High rates of school drop-out and transfer meant the trial suffered from substantial participant drop-out. Intention-to-treat analyses using two different imputation strategies were consistent with the main results, with mean differences of 5.2% attendance in best-case and 24.5% in worst-case imputations. Results were robust to adjustments for clustering. There was no impact of the interventions on girls' self-reported shame or insecurity during menstruation.
conclusionResults of the trial support the hypothesised positive impact of providing sanitary pads or puberty education for girls' school attendance in a developing country context. Findings must be interpreted with caution in light of poor participant retention, intervention fidelity, and the attendance measures used.
trial registrationPan African Clinical Trials Registry PACTR201503001044408.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.