3. The Period Problem

In light of World Toilet Day taking place yesterday, I thought it would be fitting for today's post to delve into the gendered issues concerning sanitation and hygiene in Africa around menstruation.

Despite Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals detailing the aim of ensuring access to clean water and sanitation in what is often referred to as WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), many countries still lack these rights. Figure 1 demonstrates how across the African continent, there is limited access to safely managed sanitation services.





Figure 1: % of population using safely managed sanitation services, 2022 (WHO/UNICEF 2023)

However, as women face additional barriers and need extra resources for menstrual hygiene management (MHM) (Pouramin et al. 2020), this creates gendered impacts due to limited WASH facilities.

 

Gendered impacts of reduced access to WASH facilities


Health 


1 in 10 reproductive-aged women in Ethiopia’s urban areas experienced reproductive tract infections closely linked to using unclean toilets, and a lack of handwashing and sanitary product changing (Ademas et al. 2020). Furthermore, period poverty means women will use alternatives such as newspapers and old clothes due to the unaffordability of sanitary products, including 7 million girls in South Africa, which consequently increases the risk of infection, demonstrating the heightened risk levels for women of lower-income backgrounds.  

 

Education 


One study found that 23% of 15-24-year-olds in Nigeria missed school in the past 12 months due to menstruation, which was attributed to a lack of toilets, products, disposal, and hygiene infrastructure (Hennegan et al. 2021). This limits the future socio-economic potential for women and increases gendered divisions.


Social Stigma


Furthermore, there is a social stigma and shame attached to periods and menstrual blood which are seen as ‘dirty’ and ‘impure’. In Figure 2, Christine gives a brief but informative insight into how she experiences bullying at school about bad stains and odours, as she is forced to carry her used pad around school and is not able to wash her hands due to a lack of sanitation and disposal facilities. This generates distress and prevents women from speaking up about their menstrual needs due to shame (Pouramin et al. 2020), which exacerbates the gendered impacts.






Solutions Case Study - Gambia


In Basse, Gambia, the UNFPA employed local women to make recyclable sanitary pads which are then given to local schools and hospitals. This helps empower local women by providing them with skills and employment as well as providing education to young girls with menstrual health discussions, helping reduce period shame. 




Figure 3: UNFPA Period Project in Gambia (UN 2023)



As well as providing more detail on the project, Figure 3 also highlights further inequalities that reduce access to WASH facilities such as disability and rural locations which increase the time taken. It is important to consider intersectionality to disperse the idea of African women as a single homogenous group so that there can be more equitable solutions for ensuring access to WASH facilities. 


Comments

  1. Lucy ButlerJanuary 7, 2024 at 9:17 AM

    Hi Cristina, I really enjoyed this post! It's clear you have done extensive research around this topic, and your use of figures and videos complement your points excellently :)

    In regards to other solutions, I understand there are a multiple national and international charities who operate in Africa, such as AFRIpads and WoMena. Could you tell me a little more about the impact some of these charities have had in certain areas? And potentially how they could improve to reach more women?

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