Menstrual hygiene and reproductive health: understanding the linkages through the Adolescent Menstrual Experiences and Health Cohort in Bangladesh
Principal Investigator: Brendan Allen, RGHI International Collaboration Grant Award Holder
Menstrual health is an under-addressed hygiene challenge.
Despite growing qualitative evidence about menstrual health challenges, it remains difficult to secure sustainable financial investment to support women and girls without quantitative estimates of the impact that menstrual health has on priority health and social outcomes.
To address the significant gap in quantitative menstrual health and hygiene research, the Adolescent Menstrual Experiences and Health Cohort (AMEHC) study has been established. A cohort of 2,000 adolescent girls in Khulna, Bangladesh is being followed from the time of menarche (around age 12), with yearly surveys conducted to understand how their menstrual health needs evolve over time. This study seeks to examine how these changes impact their physical and mental health, sexual and reproductive health (SRH), and education. The AMEHC is positioned as a valuable platform to explore RGHI’s priority area of understanding links between hygiene and health.
Through this grant, the cohort study is ongoing to 2026, allowing the continuation of observations until the girls reach age 15. This allows the capturing of the impacts of menstrual health and hygiene experiences on SRH outcomes, including contraceptive uptake intentions, early marriage, and adolescent pregnancy, as well as impacts on school retention rates (time to school dropout) and performance on the nationally standardised Junior School Certificate exam.
