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Author Notes:

Correspondence: Marina Plesons, plesonsm@who.int

Author contributions: All authors participated in the 2018 global research collaborative meeting on menstrual health in adolescence, with the exception of AJ. MP and VC conceived the paper. MP and VC prepared a draft of the paper, with inputs from AP. JB, AB, FC, BAC, MF, MH, JH, AJ, CK, EK, PPH, and AS reviewed and revised the paper. MP finalized the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful for the contributions that Neelima Agrawal, Rockaya Aidara, Avni Amin, Teresa Calderón, Sue Coates, Jackson Muriithi, Angela Nakafeero, David Ross, Lale Say, and Marianne Tellier made during the 2018 global research collaborative meeting on adolescent menstrual health.

The authors are also grateful to Demi Cheng, Megan Dumas, Elisabeth Marais, and Siri Tellier for their review and inputs to a draft of this article.

Disclosures: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Subjects:

Research Funding:

This work was funded by the UNDP-UNFPA-UNICEF-WHO-World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction, a cosponsored program executed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Keywords:

  • Science & Technology
  • Life Sciences & Biomedicine
  • Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
  • Menstruation
  • Menstrual health
  • Menstrual hygiene
  • Menstrual hygiene management
  • Adolescent health
  • Adolescent sexual and reproductive health
  • Hygiene management
  • Reproductive health
  • Girls
  • Schoolgirls
  • Sanitation
  • Services
  • Women

The state of adolescent menstrual health in low- and middle-income countries and suggestions for future action and research

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Journal Title:

Reproductive Health

Volume:

Volume 18, Number 1

Publisher:

, Pages 31-31

Type of Work:

Article | Final Publisher PDF

Abstract:

In recognition of the opportunity created by the increasing attention to menstrual health at global, regional, and national levels, the World Health Organization’s Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research and the UNDP-UNFPA-UNICEF-WHO-World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction convened a global research collaborative meeting on menstrual health in adolescents in August 2018. Experts considered nine domains of menstrual health (awareness and understanding; stigma, norms, and socio-cultural practices; menstrual products; water and sanitation; disposal; empathy and support; clinical care; integration with other programmes; and financing) and answered the following five questions: (1) What is the current situation? (2) What are the factors contributing to this situation? (3) What should the status of this domain of adolescent menstrual health be in 10 years? (4) What actions are needed to achieve these goals? (5) What research is needed to achieve these goals? This commentary summarizes the consensus reached in relation to these questions during the expert consultation. In doing so, it describes the state of adolescent menstrual health in low- and middle-income countries and sets out suggestions for action and research that could contribute to meeting the holistic menstrual health needs of adolescent girls and others who menstruate worldwide.

Copyright information:

© The Author(s) 2021.

This is an Open Access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/rdf).
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