Menstrual health involves more than managing menstruation—it includes access to accurate information, affordable menstrual products, safe and accessible water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities, medical care for menstrual-related conditions, and an environment free from stigma and discrimination. Good menstrual health is essential for gender equality, sexual and reproductive health, and participation in education and employment.
Women and girls with disabilities, particularly those with intellectual disabilities, face significant barriers to achieving menstrual health. These challenges include inaccessible WASH facilities, exclusion from menstrual health policies and services, limited support for caregivers, and harmful discrimination. In humanitarian and low-resource settings, these barriers are often even greater. Despite these needs, sexual and reproductive health interventions for people with disabilities remain limited, with very few evidence-based programmes evaluated in low- and middle-income countries.
To address this gap, the Bishesta campaign was developed in Nepal as a menstrual health behaviour change intervention for young people with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers. The programme was found to be feasible and acceptable, leading to improvements in menstrual health practices and increased confidence and independence among participants. These promising results highlighted the need for further testing before scaling up or adapting the intervention to other settings.
Read the full study here: menstrual-health-and-behavioural-change