Menstrual Hygiene Management

A public health practice, commonly abbreviated MHM and also called menstrual health and hygiene, built around three core elements: access to hygiene products that can absorb or collect menstrual blood, privacy in which to change those materials, and access to facilities for disposing of used menstrual materials safely. The concept reaches beyond simple product access to take in the broader systemic factors that connect menstruation to health, wellbeing, gender equality, education, equity, empowerment and rights. Menstrual hygiene management poses particular challenges in developing countries, where inadequate access to clean water and sanitation infrastructure compounds the difficulty of managing menstruation safely and with dignity, and where insufficient access to effective menstrual products is a documented barrier to girls' participation in schooling and other social activities.