Abstract

From both an academic and a policy angle, menstruation is receiving an unprecedented level of attention. Within the academic literature, there are many different normative arguments being furthered for how menstruation should be understood and framed – variously, that it should be understood as an issue of rights, justice, health or hygiene management. Yet less attention has been paid to the step preceding these normative arguments – how menstruation actually is understood at present within global health policy. In this paper, we argue that, despite this proliferation of academic and policy interest, attention to menstruation is still relatively muted at the level of global health policy. Using Carol Bacchi’s ‘what’s the problem?’ approach to critical frame analysis, we show that global health policy on menstruation remains patchy, with little cohesive understanding of it as a policy issue emerging at the international level. Instead, competing constructions of it as an issue emerge, such that there is not one clear way in which menstruation is addressed in international health policy. We sketch the implications of this, arguing that without a collective understanding of the problem, solutions are likely to remain siloed, and cross-sectoral work will be difficult.
Original languageEnglish
Article number2448272
JournalGlobal Public Health : An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice
Volume20
Issue number1
Early online date9 Jan 2025
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 Jan 2025

Funding

This work was supported by UKRI; UK Research and Innovation (grant number EP/X02265X/1).

Keywords

  • Menstruation
  • SDG 3: good health and well-being. SDG 5: gender equality, SDG 6: clean water and sanitation, SDG 10: reduced inequalities, SDG 13: climate action
  • critical frame analysis
  • global health policy
  • menstrual health

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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