September 16, 2019

EurekAlert! News: RMF Pakistan Helps Conduct MHM Study

Study on Root Causes of Menstrual Hygiene Management Challenges in Pakistan Schools

Socio-Cultural Factors Must be Addressed

RMF, Columbia University, and University of Edmonton have collaborated to conduct a new study with the goal of understanding key factors which still need to be addressed to facilitate progress and prevent menstruation-related interruptions in class attendance. The study also revealed some of the ways which the current maintenance and design of existing water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure in schools limits the success of WASH interventions.

This scientific research will be published in the Journal of Adolescence Volume 76 in October of 2019. EurekAlert! a nonprofit news outlet supported by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) covered the study in an online article published on September 11, 2019.

Attention to menstruation and its relationship to girls’ schooling is gaining ground, yet many challenges remain. Interventions have often focused on developing WASH —water, sanitation and hygiene — infrastructure and menstrual hygiene products which may not be sufficient. New research conducted by Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and colleagues at the University of Edmonton and Real Medicine Foundation Pakistan looks at the root causes of poorly maintained WASH infrastructure in Pakistan where there has been little evidence to date. The study is among the first to identify the social and institutional structures and processes that lead to poorly maintained WASH infrastructure in schools in Pakistan. The results are online in the Journal of Adolescence.

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