WASH and menstrual health for girls’ education and sustainable development. A Stockholm World Water Week Session

Girls’ education is a foundation for gender equality, critical to a thriving, peaceful and sustainable world. Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), in addition to other elements related to menstrual health, are necessary for a girl’s quality, non-discriminatory education and have been linked to improved educational outcomes for girls. Thus, menstrual health and WASH in schools promote education, equity, development, and well-being for girls and their families, helping achieve SDGs 4, 5, and 6.

The session focused on the current state of WASH and menstrual health in schools and how monitoring and programming can be further improved. The session presented the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) global update on WASH in schools with a special focus on menstrual health. An interactive discussion then focused on an LSHTM global review of WASH in schools, lessons from the Global MHH Monitoring Group’s initiative to strengthen national monitoring of girls’ menstrual health and promote uptake of priority indicators in ten countries in collaboration with UNICEF, and an in-depth programme evaluation by Splash. Examples demonstrated how menstrual health and WASH in Schools bridge borders across different countries, sectors and organizational types, including government, NGOs, and research institutions.