A Systematic Review of Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management (MHHM) as a Human Right for Adolescents Girls

Abstract

Despite its relationship with several development issues and sexual health, menstrual health and hygiene management among adolescents have until recently been ignored by practitioners and researchers. This paper is a systematic review of existing literature and argues that menstrual health and hygiene management is a human rights issue. 28,745 articles were screened, with 84 articles included in the full-text review and quality assessment. The results indicate that using a cross-cutting, human rights framework to address inadequate menstrual health and hygiene management is fundamental to promoting menstrual health and hygiene management with dignity among girls and women across the globe.

Keywords:

• Menstrual health and hygiene management
• menstrual hygiene management
• adolescent girls
• human rights

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Carmen Cronin, Jessica Lopez, Tashi Lhamo, Manasvi Shah, and Mariana Chilton for their support and assistance in conducting the review.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Author contributions

SS1 was the principal investigator, oversaw the review process, and edited the manuscript. SS2 and MO reviewed the data and wrote and edited the manuscript. AR conducted the majority of the review and assisted with manuscript writing. MH reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.