Report on menstruation highlights need for policy on sexual and reproductive health

 A study into girls’ menstruation needs around the world has revealed a dire situation.

The research‚ led by WaterAid (an international organisation working for access to clean water)‚ suggests:

- That 50% of girls in poor countries miss at least one day of school a month due to their period;

- That more than a billion women around the world must manage their periods without a safe‚ private place to go to the toilet; and

 - That safer toilets at schools‚ combined with a private place to wash‚ would boost school enrolment by more than 10%.

Margaret Batty‚ director of global policy at WaterAid‚ said: “On any given day‚ some 800-million women and girls are having their periods‚ and hundreds of millions of them are subject to ostracisation‚ shame and risk of infection because of the stigma that still surrounds menstruation.”

She said policy-makers need to be mobilised in education and sexual and reproductive health to ensure the basic rights of women and girls.

WaterAid also found that in South Africa‚ only 8000 schools out of 24000 have flushable toilets.