All should ensure implementation of the menstrual hygiene policy

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In Summary

The Cabinet approval of the National Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) policy last November was a pivotal milestone for menstrual health.

Its overarching goal is to ensure all women and girls in Kenya live in dignity and can freely embrace their human right to further their social and economic development.

Highlighting the roles of the different stakeholders in ensuring universal MHM, the policy also provides clear-cut guidelines and specific areas of focus in menstrual hygiene training.

But in my nearly eight years in the sector, I have seen organisations develop training manuals that lacked stakeholder collaboration and policy requirements.

The sanitary towels programme, which targets girls in public schools, was first launched in 2011 under the Ministry of Education.

It was aimed at procuring and distributing sanitary towels to girls from disadvantaged backgrounds. The programme was then transferred to the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs in the 2017/2018 financial year with a Sh470 million budget.

A total of 3,703,452 girls benefitted from the project, receiving 14,813,810 packets of sanitary towels costing a total of Sh420,618,057.

KEBS' ROLE

The State Department for Gender is responsible for logistics, monitoring and evaluation for the entire project.

Although the government, private sector and civil society organisations have helped to make progress within MHM, a lot remains to be done to ensure the policy is not just another document on the shelves.

Availability of menstrual products in the local market offers women and girls with the option to choose based on their needs and preferences.

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) should ensure the safety and standardisation of the products to prevent malicious companies from exploiting adolescent girls as ‘testing kits’.

But it is not only just about the distribution of menstrual products. According to Unicef, “Understanding Menstrual Health and Hygiene within the context of human rights requires a holistic approach to women’s and girls’ human rights. The biological fact of menstruation, the necessity of managing menstruation, and society’s response to menstruation is linked with women’s and girls’ human rights and gender equality.”

KEY TO SUCCESS

In this regard, the interventions should include access to sanitation facilities tailored for the needs of all women and girls, addressing socio-cultural taboos, myths and facts about menstruation, as well as menstrual waste management and disposal facilities.

This calls for stakeholder cooperation with a common goal of understanding and addressing the unique menstrual-related needs of women of reproductive age.

The implementation of the policy can only be successful if all the stakeholders understand their roles, appropriately allocate MHM resources and, most importantly, cooperate to improve the sector.

Victor Odhiambo, co-founder and executive director, Garden of Hope Foundation. info@gardenofhopefoundation.org