Giving Compass' Take:

• Odette Hekster at PSI writes about the importance of fighting global period poverty and how to integrate menstruation into our global health agenda. 

• Would free supplies and better menstrual hygiene education in schools help end this issue? What are some other challenges with menstrual equity?

Learn about the call to end period poverty in schools in America. 


When it comes to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), we think of pregnancies – preventing an unplanned one, ensuring a safe one.

Of STI testing and Pap smears. Of safe abortions.

Sometimes, screenings.

But rarely, menstrual health.

This is a gap.

Menstruation is the bedrock of how women and girls – and all people who menstruate – make the SRHR decisions that shape their lives. From misperceptions around bleeding changes that impact contraceptive use, to the harmful stigmas that prevent menstruators from making healthy and autonomous choices for their bodies, we are missing, and will continue to miss the mark, if comprehensive SRHR services fail to include menstrual health and hygiene (MHH).

We can achieve a world in which every menstruator can make informed, healthy decisions for their bodies and lives.

But to get there, we must understand MHH in its complexity, and catalyze the funding that supports and scales MHH programming, policies and research to get MHH on the SRHR agenda.

Read the full article about integrating menstruation into Global Health Agenda by Odette Hekster at PSI.