Counting Periods, Counting Progress: Why Menstrual Health Belongs in the Global Data Agenda 

Periods are a universal reality, yet menstrual health remains one of the least understood and least measured aspects of gender equality. Around the world, millions of women and girls still lack the basic means and dignity to manage their periods safely. Without data, the inequalities they face stay hidden. 

Menstrual health shapes whether girls stay in school, whether women can work, whether societies recognise gendered needs and more. Despite this, fewer than half of all countries collect national data on menstruation. This blind spot makes menstrual inequity one of the most persistent and invisible barriers to equality. 

When menstrual health data is missing, the consequences are immediate and far-reaching: policymakers cannot budget for facilities they cannot measure; donors often overlook menstrual health in education and sanitation programmes; and advocates are left without the evidence needed to push for change. Invisibility in data becomes invisibility in policy – and progress stalls before it can begin. 

UNICEF’s 2023 State of the World’s Children report puts these gaps into perspective; one in four women and girls still lack adequate facilities for menstrual hygiene at home. The data that does exist shows how stigma, poverty, and poor infrastructure combine to exclude girls from school or limit women’s participation in work. But in too many countries, similar evidence simply doesn’t exist – leaving policymakers without a full picture of how menstrual inequity holds back gender equality. 

Where Data Exists and Where It Doesn’t 

Where menstrual health data is available, it tells a mixed story. UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) collect information on access to clean products, safe facilities, and privacy at school or work – essential parts of menstrual hygiene management. 

Analyses of these datasets show that only about 37 percent of adolescent girls in Sub-Saharan Africa have a private place at school to change menstrual products. Yet in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, where targeted investment in school WASH facilities has improved access, that figure rises above 80 percent. This demonstrates that progress is possible with targeted investment, however, investment doesn’t happen unless advocates have access to the evidence needed to make the case to donors and policymakers. 

Fewer than 50 countries have ever gathered national-level information on menstrual hygiene, and even fewer break it down by location, income, or disability. Without these intersectional analyses, inequalities stay hidden and resources cannot be targeted effectively. 

Studies that have taken this intersectional approach have revealed that: in households without basic sanitation, girls are 1.7 times more likely to miss school during menstruation; women with disabilities are twice as likely to lack private facilities at home; and in Kenya’s informal settlements, one in three adolescent girls report using unsafe materials like cloth or paper because they cannot afford proper products. This data is key in securing policies and investments that reach the most vulnerable. 

Another issue is that menstruation is often only addressed within water, sanitation, or education plans, which weakens accountability – fewer than 30 countries have stand-alone menstrual health policies according to a global review by WaterAid, the Burnet Institute, and Columbia University. And it is often even forgotten within these issues – despite menstrual health connecting directly to global goals on health, education, and gender equality, it is still missing from official Sustainable Development Goal indicators. This gap mirrors the broader absence of gender data in global reporting and limits the world’s ability to measure real progress. 

Policy in Practice 

Countries around the world are showing that menstrual equity is achievable when political commitment meets public demand. 

In 2020, Scotland became the first country to guarantee free access to period products through the Period Products (Free Provision) Act. The law ensures that schools and local authorities make pads, tampons, and reusable products available to anyone who needs them. It is widely praised as a model for rights-based policy and has inspired similar efforts elsewhere. However, progress is more difficult to measure, because menstrual data is collected on a UK-level, despite health policy being a devolved issue. While the picture may be improving in Scotland, this is harder to measure without disaggregated data, with Plan International only telling us that one in ten girls across the UK still miss school because they cannot afford or access products. Scotland’s experience demonstrates how national leadership, paired with disaggregated data, can help turn progressive laws into sustained progress. 

Kenya has also taken important steps. The Free Sanitary Towels Programme, launched in 2017, aimed to provide pads to schoolgirls nationwide. According to 2019 MICS data, almost half of adolescent girls now have what they need to manage their periods safely. This a significant milestone in a country that has openly recognised menstrual health as a public issue. Yet rural girls, those in informal settlements, and girls with disabilities remain the least served. Supply shortages, funding issues, and stigma in schools have limited the programme’s reach. Kenya’s experience shows how progress builds when policy, community leadership, and data come together, but also how sustained investment is needed to reach every girl. 

Counting What Matters 

Menstrual health continues to be under-measured, under-funded, and undervalued. Global monitoring systems overlook it, and existing data is often outdated or incomplete. The invisibility of menstrual experiences, from girls missing school in rural Kenya to implementation gaps in countries with progressive policies, reflects a deeper inequity in who gets counted. 

To close the gap, governments, donors, and advocates should: 

• Integrate menstrual health indicators into national and global reporting. 
• Fund statistical offices to include menstrual health into existing surveys.
• Recognise and resource grassroots data initiatives. 
• Affirm menstrual health as a matter of dignity, equality, and human rights. 

Menstrual equity is not only about access to pads or products. It is about fairness, visibility, and respect. Gender equality cannot be realised until every woman and girl’s lived reality is visible in data.