BUILDING A CROSS-SECTORAL TOOLKIT AND RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR THE INTEGRATION OF MENSTRUAL HYGIENE MANAGEMENT INTO EMERGENCY RESPONSE

Women and girls displaced by conflict or disaster face a host of difficulties. Menstruation is hard to cope with in crisis settings, and is an issue that has been neglected by emergency responders in the past. In addition to hygiene materials, privacy, sanitation facilities, waste disposal, information and even access to water is often in short supply. Delivery and phasing of these components is critical, with cross-sectoral coordination needed so that women and girls can manage menses safely, with privacy and dignity.In this project, a cross-sectoral team of researchers and humanitarian responders will explore and analyse girls’ and women’s priority menstrual hygiene needs in emergencies, and develop a streamlined toolkit to guide humanitarian response. Acknowledging that approaches to managing menstruation vary greatly across cultures and in different settings, the research will be carried out in multiple countries, and the toolkit will be tested and piloted to ensure that it can be applied in a variety of contexts.