TOWARDS A
STIGMA-FREE WORLD WHERE EVERY GIRL AND WOMAN LIVE AND THRIVE WITH DIGNITY.

Join us in our movement to make menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030.

Join us

Menstrual Health and Hygiene Platform

The MHM Platform

Founded in

2017

Members

70+

Born to create a stigma-free world

In Bangladesh, menstruation is still perceived as a feminine issue only, which constrains female mobility and self-expressions of SRHR. Women are expected to deal with menstrual issues in secrecy as it is still considered as a taboo, and many girls and women are uncomfortable discussing this in public.

Majority of the existing initiatives in menstrual health are part of the larger programme for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) or Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), being implemented by local and/or international NGOs. However, menstrual health is not a WASH or SRHR issue only, but relates to women empowerment and gender relationships too. Taking this into account, MHM platform was launched in 2017, as part of the Ritu project, funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The platform comprises of over 70 national and international organisations and individual experts working in the arenas of WASH, SRHR, private companies and development partners.

What we do?

Coordinate among WASH, SRHR, and the private sector to create a synergy and positive discourse about menstrual health in order to illicit change.

Our vision

Create an enabling environment to ensure hygiene management and SRHR rights towards attaining gender equality. We can do this through influencing policy formulation and facilitate implementation of novel interventions and decentralising knowledge base on menstrual health.

Our agenda

Advocate to government for providing free sanitary napkins and ensure safe disposal system in schools.

Campaign for VAT and tax exemption on MHM products.

Combine used sanitary materials management with medical waste management.

Ensure access to MHM and gender friendly WASH in educational institutes and workplaces.

Make cost-effective sanitary materials available to the wider audience.

Strategies to realise agendas

We aim to achieve these agenda through encouraging government for undertaking joint initiatives with private companies and NGOs and creating multi-sectoral collaboration and focus on media advocacy to promote MHM. We support the growth of expertise and the sharing of knowledge among organisations and institutions that help to facilitate dialogue. In addition, we have embedded nutrition and male counterpart engagement in the sexual health and hygiene management discourse. The achievement of these agenda would translate to normalising MHM in each and every corner of Bangladesh.

Ananya App

MHM Platform has launched a Menstrual Hygiene and Period Tracker app, Ananya, which provides menstruation tracking, cycle prediction, and informative content concerning menstrual hygiene management.

The application is available on Android platforms and supports both English & Bangla language.

Get it on Google Play

The first national hygiene survey revealed that 40% of girls missed three days of school during menstruation.

Checkout the National Hygiene Survey

Platform Steering Committee

Hasin Jahan
Chairperson and Country Director, WaterAid Bangladesh

Alok Majumder
Director, WASH, Environment and Climate Justice
Red Orange Communications

Dr. Ikhtiar Uddin Khandaker
Director, Health Program,
Care Bangladesh

Dr. Md Mahbubur Rahman
Project Coordinator, Environment Health and WASH, icddr,b

Marzia Hassan (Prova)
Program Officer, BAPSA

Mushfiqua Zaman Satiar
Senior Policy Advisor – Social Sector
Focal Point for SRHR, Gender and Youth, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bangladesh

Nobonita Chowdhury
Director, Gender, Justice and Diversity and Preventing Violence Against Women Initiative, BRAC

Salma Mahbub
Secretary General, BSCAN

Sanjoy Majumder
Coordinator, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation,
Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangha (BNPS)

Sharmin Kabir
Founder, Wreetu

Shofiqul Alam
WASH Specialist, UNICEF

Rabeya Sultana
Director, Nice Foundation

Md. Zobair Hasan
Director, DORP

Khandaker Shamim Rahman
GM, Marketing
Social Marketing Company (SMC)

Mr. Mohiuddin AhmedAdditional GM, BCC
Social Marketing Company (SMC)

Menstruation is a normal fact of life and affects everyone. But society is not always very accepting of this natural event.

Hear Bonna Mirza's story of having periods

Member organisations

More than 70 renowned organisations and expert individuals have already joined their hands together to bring lasting change in the menstrual health and hygiene space of Bangladesh.

Join the movement

The MHM Platform is a growing movement of organisations and institutions working to bring great change for menstruating women and girls. To join our Platform, please fill out our membership form and email it to fayazuddinahmad@wateraid.org

Membership Application Form

Contact now

Make menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030

Get in touch

Get in touch with us by filling out
the following inquiry form

Inquiry Form

Email

To ask any queries
about MHM platform, send us a email

fayazuddinahmad@wateraid.org

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