📋 Tender Overview
Project ID
110532
Total Funding
CAD 626,600.00
IDRC Officer
Adrijana Corluka
Project Status
Active
Duration
30 months
Summary
In Peru, menstruation remains a taboo topic, rarely discussed within families and communities, and even less so in schools. Poor menstrual health management services in health, educational and sanitation systems can affect girls’ mental and physical health, educational attainment and exercise of their rights. In 2021, Peru’s Congress approved a law instructing the ministries of health and education to address menstrual health management services for girls, adolescents and women living in poverty and extreme poverty.
This study will assess whether the implementation of the law responds to the needs of the populations served, and what factors, including gender, stigma and intersectionality, influence its effectiveness. It also aims to generate knowledge to close gaps in the sexual, reproductive and mental health needs of girls and adolescents in vulnerable situations in Peru by co-designing and piloting a national plan for menstrual health management across schools and health centres in Lima (coast), Ayacucho (highlands) and Ucayali (jungle).
The results of this study are intended to improve menstrual health management among girls and adolescents who receive care according to the intervention model, improving their sexual, reproductive and mental health, and allowing girls and adolescents to attend school with greater confidence and security. The project will also develop materials and a dissemination plan for a digital platform to support implementation and encourage a community of practice.
This project is part of a second cohort of research projects in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Middle East and North Africa to support research on the understudied area of the interface between sexual, reproductive and maternal health and mental health.
