OP-ED | Menstrual health is about more than giving girls menstrual products

Health-e News OP-ED | Menstrual health is about more than giving girls menstrual products Seventy-five percent of girl learners surveyed in I_Menstruate Movement’s Bleeding in Silence: Barriers to Menstrual Hygiene Among School Girls in South Africa research reported distress at menarche, their first menstruation.

This finding highlights an often-overlooked dimension of menstrual health: the emotional impact of navigating menstruation without adequate information, resources and support.

As we commemorated World Mental Health Day on 10 October and the International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October, I_Menstruate Movement is calling for urgent action to address the systemic barriers that undermine girls’ dignity, mental wellbeing, safety and right to education.

The Movement is marking these commemorations in Maseru, Lesotho, through participation in the 29th Ordinary Session of the Civil Society Organisations Forum, the 48th Ordinary Session of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), and a side event on Utilising the ACERWC Mechanisms for Universal Child WASH and Menstrual Hygiene, hosted by the Centre for Human Rights based at the University of Pretoria.

Our participation brings the lived experiences of children in South African schools into continental conversations on children’s rights and accountability.

It reinforces a central message of our work: menstrual health cannot be separated from mental wellbeing, education, safety, dignity and equality.

Menstrual health is more than access to products When girls lack menstrual products, clean water, safe toilets and accurate information, menstruation can become a source of anxiety, shame and exclusion.

Stigma and fear of embarrassment can make it difficult for children to ask for help, participate confidently at school or manage menstruation with dignity.

Menstruation itself is not a mental health problem.

However, the conditions surrounding it, including stigma, inadequate facilities and a lack of support, can contribute to emotional distress.

Governments must therefore treat menstrual health as an essential part of protecting children’s physical and mental wellbeing, rather than leaving girls to navigate these challenges alone.

Girls must help shape the solutions At I_Menstruate Movement, we challenge these systemic barriers through participatory research, child-led advocacy, education and movement-building.

Our Menstrual Health Equity Bill, developed through a child-led process with school-going members, demonstrates that children can identify policy failures and help shape the legislative protections needed to address them.