Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) Research Project

Professor Dr. Marni Sommer of Columbia University in collaboration with Real Medicine Foundation, and with funding from Grow N Know Inc (G&K), has launched a research study in early 2015 to explore the knowledge gap of how the onset of menstruation and puberty influences the Pakistani girls’ school-going experiences, including school retention, and to develop the Pakistan girls’ puberty book in line with G&K’s model of similar puberty books in low and middle-income countries, with the aim to promote young women’s health and education during pubertal transitions. This project is an adaptation to Pakistan of a similar research methodology previously utilized in studies conducted in Tanzania, Ghana, Ethiopia and Cambodia which also developed context-specific, culturally sensitive girls’ puberty books; all above studies were conducted by the same PI.