Access to Sufficient Menstrual Materials

Menstrual health requires girls to be able to catch or absorb menstrual blood with sufficient, safe and comfortable materials, and to have reliable access to these materials. This indicator captures girls’ access to sufficient menstrual materials to catch or absorb their menstrual bleeding. The indicator is informed by girls’ own perspectives on whether the quantity of materials they had during their last period was sufficient

There are multiple concepts that could be considered to reflect having adequate access to materials, such as use of preferred materials, informed choice, ease of access, and sufficient quantity and quality of materials. This indicator was selected to represent a basic level of access: having enough materials. Future indicators could be devised to assess if girls have access to sufficient quantities of their preferred materials
Numerator: number of post-menarcheal girls surveyed with access to enough menstrual materials during their last period
Denominator: total number of post-menarcheal girls surveyed.

RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTIONS (Q) AND ANSWERS (A)

Q: during your last menstrual period, did you have enough menstrual materials to change them as often as you wanted to?
Answer options:
Yes
No
Don't remember