ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2020
National Monitoring for Menstrual Health and Hygiene: Is the Type of Menstrual Material Used Indicative of Needs Across 10 Countries?
Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring menstrual products: A systematic review and meta-analysis of reusable menstrual pads for public health internationally.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Heavy menstrual bleeding and association with menstruation-specific resources: A multinational cross-sectional study in low- and middle-income countries.Health & place · 2025Article
- Menstrual blood and ritual beliefs: a qualitative study on menstrual health and hygiene practices among senior high school girls in Volta Region, Ghana.Reproductive health · 2025Article
- A brief instrument measuring the water, sanitation and hygiene domain of menstrual health among women who inject drugs.PloS one · 2024Article
- Decomposing the rural-urban gap in hygienic material use during menstruation among adolescent women in India.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Indicators for National and Global Monitoring of Girls' Menstrual Health and Hygiene: Development of a Priority Shortlist.The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 2023Article
- School and work absenteeism due to menstruation in three West African countries: findings from PMA2020 surveys.Sexual and reproductive health matters · 2021Article
- Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in Relation to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- A novel banana fiber pad for menstrual hygiene in India: a feasibility and acceptability study.BMC women's health · 2021Article
- Understanding Period Poverty: Socio-Economic Inequalities in Menstrual Hygiene Management in Eight Low- and Middle-Income Countries.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- The Menstrual Practices Questionnaire (MPQ): development, elaboration, and implications for future research.Global health action · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Surveys monitoring population health and sanitation are increasingly seeking to monitor menstrual health. In the absence of established indicators, these surveys have most often collected data on the type of menstrual material used. This study investigated whether such data provides a useful indication of women's menstrual material needs being met. Using data from 12 national or state representative surveys from the Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 program, we compared self-reported menstrual material use against respondents' reported menstrual material needs (including needing clean materials, money, or access to a vendor). The use of menstrual pads did not indicate that menstrual material needs were met for many respondents. Of those exclusively using pads, a pooled 26.4% (95% Confidence Interval 17.1-38.5) of respondents reported that they had unmet material needs. More disadvantaged groups were particularly misrepresented; of rural women exclusively using pads, a pooled 38.5% (95%CI 27.3-51.1) reported unmet material needs, compared to 17.1% (95%CI 12.4-23.0) of urban women. Similar disparities were observed for levels of education and wealth, with a pooled 45.9% (95%CI 29.2-63.6) of women in the lowest wealth quintile reporting unmet material needs. Findings suggest that caution is needed when using menstrual material use as an indicator for menstrual health.
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Registered trials
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