An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered by Dr Laura Rossouw (African Fellow 2021-22; University of the Witwatersrand):
The Economics of Menstrual Hygiene Management: The impact of the Sanitary Dignity Programme on access to menstrual hygiene products in South Africa
Rationale
Improving the menstrual health of women and girls is increasingly gaining policy importance in a bid to promote dignity, gender equality and reproductive health. Menstrual health management (MHM) consists of having access to clean, absorbent materials such as sanitary pads, but also extends into having private and safe spaces for using these products and materials.
MHM policy in South Africa. Perpetuating inequality?
The increased focus on MHM has spurred a global movement of non-governmental organisations, advocacy groups and researchers to push for the implementation of various fiscal policies to address inadequate MHM. In South Africa specifically, years of pressure from interest groups resulted in the implementation of the Sanitary Dignity Programme (SDP) in 2017 – a programme involving the free distribution of sanitary pads across low quintile schools. However, implementation of the SDP programme has been hindered by governance issues, with roll-out haphazard or non-existent in several of South Africa’s more rural provinces.There is initial evidence that the programme has even perpetuated inequality among the girls within schools.
Research proposal
Programmes have been rolled out with little research or evidence to inform them. This includes assessing whether the programmes truly meet the MH needs of women and girls in terms of their own preference and choice. This lack of evaluation of the suitability threatens the sustainability of programmes to improve MHM. The proposed research seeks to assess the affordability and differential access to MH products for school-aged girls, and to assess the impact of the Sanitary Dignity Programme on the quality, preference and choice of MH products being used by school-aged girls. The focus will be on identifying and highlighting potential, unintended inequalities created by the Programme. The presentation will be on the full research proposal written during my IASH fellowship, after interviews with UK-based researchers and extensive desktop-research.
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81322391722
Passcode: Vr8f3ew2