Menstrual Health in Bangladesh: From Policy Plans to Practical Solutions
By: Kay Windle
The Human Rights Council’s Resolution 47/4 laid the groundwork for menstrual health management by explicitly linking the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health with menstrual hygiene. Bangladesh’s response and implementation of this resolution has been noteworthy, though it continues to evolve.
While there are no laws or regulations in place that directly deal with menstrual health, Bangladesh has been successful in introducing several plans and guidelines to address the issue. For example, the Nations 8th Five-Year Plan (2020-2025) acknowledges a number of key needs for women and girls, including access to WASH facilities in schools to improve attendance, as well as teacher-led education on menstruation and related hygiene practices. Additionally, a circular from the Ministry of Education addressed the installation of toilets and the provision of sanitary napkins within the workplace.
The National Menstrual Hygiene Management Strategy of 2021 also serves as an insightful framework, fostering partnerships among stakeholders to ensure that remote areas receive the funding and facilities necessary to support menstrual hygiene. It also works to reduce to reduce the tax burden on menstrual products through the SRO 240 VAT exemption. The importance of working on menstrual health is echoed in Strategy 6 which calls for “the development of a menstrual hygiene management strategy and framework for action.”
The Bangladeshi government’s 2014 Hygiene Baseline Survey and 2018 National Hygiene Survey (conducted in conjunction with WaterAid) provide key insights into the realities of menstrual hygiene education and access in Bangladesh. For instance, only 36% of adolescent girls had heard about menstruation before their first period and around 50% still rely on old cloth as their primary resource for managing menstruation.
To address this, Bangladesh’s Menstrual Health Management (MHM) Platform has proven to be an effective mechanism for shifting this reality and expanding access to menstrual health development. The platform brings together non-governmental actors, donors, and private-sector representatives to fund and implement menstrual health management initiatives, particularly in fragile contexts and among vulnerable populations.
Collectively, these efforts reflect a developing institutional approach to menstrual health in Bangladesh, highlighting an ongoing process to build an inclusive and sustainable approach to menstrual hygiene management.
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Disclaimer: For these assessments White & Case has provided valuable pro bono assistance for this project but bears no responsibility for the benchmarking of countries in the dashboard which reflects the sole view of Human Right 2 Water. This information is a desktop review, and has been generously provided as pro bono support, based on a preliminary research of the legal framework in this country. It will be verified by our legal team in collaboration with local authorities.
