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Each month, half of the world's female population, estimated at 1.9 billion individuals, experience menstruation (
The American Medical Women's Association defines period poverty as the lack of accessibility or affordability of menstrual hygiene tools and educational material, such as sanitary products, washing facilities, and waste management (
Period poverty does not only affect menstruating people in lower income countries; it also affects them in higher income countries (
The gap in the literature and the lack of data on period poverty is a continuous challenge to measure its deteriorating impact on women's health. The following special issue aimed to address this gap by including a diverse set of qualitative, cross-sectional, and review studies exploring the menstrual experiences of girls and women from different regions across the world. For instance, the menstrual health challenges reported by adolescent girls in Myanmar ranged from access to information and social support, to behavioral restrictions, stigma surrounding menstruation, and difficulties managing menstrual bleeding and pain ( Availability and affordability of menstrual products, and accessibility to water, sanitation and health (WASH) services, Availability of support system and coping with “period poverty,” and Gender dimensions of menstrual hygiene management.
Age appropriate education, using innovative approaches such as interpersonal practical guidance (IPG) as face-to-face communication and mediated practical guidance (MPG) as social and behavior change communication (SBCC), was successful in improving menstrual health and hygiene management (MHHM) knowledge, attitudes, and practices in India, while addressing the existing menstrual health challenges in similar settings (
When it comes to the United States, low-income menstruating adults were seen to be disproportionately affected by period poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic because the pandemic acted as a barrier to period supplies and an underlying factor for missing work due to the lack of such products (
Social, physical, and mental issues imposed by period poverty and encountered by females globally are inhumane and require immediate attention of policymakers and healthcare professionals to attain positive and sustainable menstruation outcomes. Findings from this issue will provide the readers with an overview about the current situation of period poverty in high-income and low-income countries. It will also guide research experts in the design and implementation of interventions seeking to address structural, social, and individual factors among populations impacted by such a phenomenon.
LS and CM: development of the editorial. JG and MP: critical review of the editorial. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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