Menstrual health and puberty

Most of the girls we meet started their period with no warning that it was coming. They thought they were ill, or being punished, and the first person they told was a friend who knew no more than they did. Boys are told nothing at all, which is where the teasing starts, and how a girl learns that staying at home is easier than explaining.

We run sessions in schools and community halls in the local language, with a female facilitator for the girls and a separate session for the boys. Sanitary products are handed out at the same visit, so that nobody has to ask for them separately or be seen doing it. We cover what a period is, what is normal, how to manage it with what is actually available, and which symptoms are not normal at all. That last part matters more than anything else we say. Bleeding that soaks through in an hour, pain that stops you standing, periods that stop arriving. Girls are taught what those mean and told plainly to ask a clinician rather than an aunt.

Teachers tell us the questions change by the second visit. The first time nobody speaks. The second time the questions are specific, and several of them are about someone else in the family. What is still hard is reaching girls who have already left school. They need this most, and a timetable built around schools is the worst possible way to find them.