Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in Zimbabwe

Shalom Mhanda’s essay offers a comprehensive look into an often neglected issue: menstrual hygiene management in Zimbabwe. Growing up in Zimbabwe herself, Shalom uses both research and personal anecdotes to illustrate the ways rhetoric surrounding menstrual hygiene has hindered young women. Ultimately, she advocates for a versatile approach, recognizing the way in which different communities require different solutions. –Elizabeth Emmons ‘23, editorial assistant

Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in Zimbabwe 

Shalom T Mhanda ’25

Sexual and reproductive health issues are taboo topics in Zimbabwean households, taboos that personally affected me as a teenage girl growing up in Zimbabwe. While the issues regarding menstrual health in Zimbabwe have slowly become a public discussion, many girls like me still have to figure out how to manage it on their own. Many myths and misconceptions still drive the way young girls and even adult women manage their hygiene during menstruation. Menstrual hygiene management affects women’s health and education, particularly girls in school, and many factors have contributed to these effects, despite some methods used to counter these effects. The government of Zimbabwe should put in place practical measures to ensure that girls and women can afford to manage their menstrual hygiene safely and decently. 

Zimbabwe has a very conservative culture, hence it is considered immoral to discuss sexual and reproductive health issues. Since the onset of menstruation, or menarche, means the girl child can now be impregnated, issues regarding menstrual health are also neglected (Ndlovu & Bhala) due to a hidden fear that talking about such things will lead children to indulge in sexual activities. Thus, the only information given to girls when they start menstruating is to run away from boys as fast as they can to avoid getting pregnant. No one is available to explain the changes now happening in the girl’s body and how to handle them. This lack of proper education on menstrual hygiene management leads to easy influence by the myths and misconceptions lingering in the community.

The lack of efficient education on menstrual hygiene management, particularly before the onset of menstruation, results in traumatic experiences for young girls. In a study done by UNICEF in 2019, 40% of girls in both rural and urban communities in Zimbabwe mentioned that they had not received any education on menstruation before they started to menstruate. A school head interviewed in the study had this to say about girls’ experiences with the onset of menstruation: “it happens at every school, especially with the first-timers…the child will disappear for almost two weeks if not properly counseled” (Stewart et al. 79).  The remaining  60% of the girls in the study had received some education, but it was not adequate to properly prepare them for the experience. When asked about their understanding of what menstruation was in the same study, some girls replied:  “when someone sleeps with a person with HIV, they start bleeding from the vagina and they need to go to the clinic and get an injection to make the bleeding stop” (80).

The limited education on menstrual hygiene management together with the culture of silence surrounding menstruation often lead to the use of dangerous materials to manage menstrual hygiene, including cow dung, maize cobs, scrap paper, tissue paper, old rags, cloth, socks, and tree leaves. Poverty and inadequate education on menstrual health are the main reasons why these materials are being used. These materials cause irritation leaving the girls uncomfortable and also cause urinary tract infections (Stewart et al. 75). Materials such as period pants, tampons, and menstrual cups are very expensive for the majority of people in Zimbabwe so they are only used by girls from affluent families. In a country with a dwindling economy where putting food on the table is difficult, the use of sanitary pads (the most commonly used material) becomes a luxury and an unnecessary expense. Coupled with how many packs a girl would need per cycle (sanitary pads cost USD $2 per pack of ten in Zimbabwe and the average cycle goes for 4 days with 4 to 5 pads encouraged to be used per day), dangerous materials become the only option (Ndlovu & Bhala 2). This means a girl likely loses four days of school monthly. Reusable pads have been recently introduced and have been very helpful as they are cost-effective. However, cleaning them requires a lot of water (Tembo et al 8), a predicament because most places, including the urban areas, have not had water in decades. The majority of schools do not have water or soap in their toilets. The only option teachers have is to send girls back home when they soil their uniforms (Stewart et al. 81). Also, the toilets do not have doors and private disposal bins, and thus there is no privacy (Shangwa 6). 

Girls end up not going to school at all during their menstrual periods because they do not want everyone to know they are menstruating. Some girls even choose to hide in bushes throughout the day and then head back home after school ends, fooling their parents that they were actually in school (Mutunzi 2013). This makes it hard for girls to catch up to what is being done in class. Cultural stereotypes of the uncleanliness of a menstruating girl are another major reason why girls absent themselves from school. I remember being told by my friends that a boy would go blind if they saw a girl’s menstrual blood when I was in secondary school. Without any older people to talk to about this, l believed the claim, hence I felt immense pressure to make sure I would not leak any blood lest I make another woman’s son blind. This fear of leakage is very common. It preoccupies girls’ minds in the classroom, thus increasing anxiety levels and lowering concentration. Many teachers can tell when a girl is on their period because of a notable decrease in confidence and participation. The learning process of the girls is drastically affected. In primary school, I was told that a boy can sense if you are on your period when you shake hands in greeting. Since no one wanted anyone, especially boys, to know they were menstruating, social interactions and greetings became unnatural. Other myths and misconceptions include not cooking for the family or touching anyone’s hair, not going near domestic animals or plants, not bathing twice, and dietary restrictions such as not eating eggs (Stewart et al. 50). All of these are believed to bring bad omen on other people and infertility in animals, thus putting immense pressure on girls to not cause any problems. 

Taboos around period pain have also resulted in the absence of girls in schools during their menses. Period pain is normally experienced by many girls and women and can range from bad to worse in every individual. Superstitions about pain medications abound. Girls are sometimes told not to take pain relievers during menstruation as this would make the pain of giving birth even worse. The study done by UNICEF in 2019 found that 56.6% and 46.3% of the girls in rural and urban areas did not use anything to relieve period pain. This comes when period pain is the main cause of school absence in urban areas and the second main reason in rural areas – after lack of sanitary products. Considering the frequently large class sizes in Zimbabwe, the teachers do not pay attention to the individual needs of each student, hence these girls will have to catch up on school work on their own. Teachers only pay attention when they are privately tutoring students. Paying school fees alone is hard for the parents, hence these tutoring sessions are not an option for the majority. Coupled with the fact that girls have to help with household chores at home, they end up falling behind and failing their classes.

The introduction of environmentally friendly, water-efficient, and cost-effective menstrual cups by the Butterfly Cup Company has also been met with cultural impediments in Zimbabwe (Liwendahl 5). A girl or woman must keep her virginity intact before marriage. A good marriage is highly regarded as the benchmark for every woman’s success, and therefore no girl or woman wants to jeopardize a good marriage and disgrace her family by breaking her virginity. Consequently, only a few have accepted menstrual cups even after being educated about the freedom menstrual cups give during menstruation and also how they reduce period pains with time. 

Because the culture of silence on menstrual matters is so deeply ingrained in Zimbabweans, it is very hard for teachers and even those spreading awareness to talk freely and provide clear information on the subject. According to a recent study, some girls left a menstrual hygiene awareness campaign with the perception that a period cup was a cup of tea (Tembo et al). The campaign team was reluctant to talk about and distribute the cup as they were not comfortable. The inadequate information girls and young women have about menstrual hygiene management therefore not only occurs due to a lack of guidance from immediate relatives but also exists in schools and non-governmental organizations. Some female teachers mentioned that they are not comfortable talking about menstruation with students (Stewart et al. 33). 56.7% of students in urban areas and 51.4% in rural areas (Stewart et al. 90) cite that teachers are their main source of information pre-menarche. The situation is even more dire in schools where the teachers are male, because of the fear of potential sexual abuse of these girls by the teachers. This lack of proper education is likely to continue for generations if no action is taken. 

Overall, the culture of shame in menstruating in Zimbabwe has greatly affected girls’ mental well-being, social relations, and outlook on their bodies. Just the thought of having to manage menstrual hygiene while keeping it a secret from other family members and other schoolmates or friends affects the mental well-being of girls. Some girls start hating their bodies simply because of menstruation thus developing deep self-confidence issues. Other girls face bullying and harassment during their menses from their fellow schoolmates. A report of a school in Marondera (one of the districts in Zimbabwe) stated that boys often go through girls’ bags when they think they are menstruating just to tease them (Stewart et al. 81). They often notice the clumsy walking of the girls because of the pad or piece of cloth they would be wearing and this becomes the source of teasing (Stewart et al. 85). When asked about other embarrassing moments regarding menstruation, some schoolboys replied, “A girl was playing when her blood-stained cloth fell. The boys teased her and she had to miss her [national] grade seven exams (these exams are required for admission into secondary school) because of that” (Stewart et al. 84). All these are traumatic experiences girls face on the basis that they menstruate.

The government of Zimbabwe, through the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, has the responsibility of making sure that girls’ rights to quality education are not violated. According to the study by UNICEF in 2019, Zimbabwe does have legal frameworks that advocate for menstrual hygiene management and sexual reproductive health. The study states: “However, lack of specificity and reference to MHM; limited cross-sectoral working; and a weak social movement derail implementation.” As long as this issue is not seen as an urgent matter that needs to be addressed, no action will be taken by the government. Non-governmental organizations are now the main providers of information and menstrual hygiene products. Some community members have also started teaching girls how to make their reusable menstrual pads and also how to take care of themselves during their menstrual periods. Necessities such as soap, petroleum jelly, and underwear are also handed out to the girls as most of them cannot afford these. Other generous organizations also hand out period pants and cups to the girls considering how expensive they are. These organizations are the only hope the girls have for comfortably managing their menstrual hygiene. 

It is not easy to erase deeply ingrained cultural and religious beliefs that have been in practice for centuries. As someone who has experienced the problems caused by these cultural stereotypes, I strongly believe that all safe menstrual hygiene products should be made freely available to girls and women everywhere so they can choose what they want to use. This will ensure that girls and women are safe and comfortable during their menstrual periods, and thus they can continue their daily lives with no hindrances. Also, communities are not homogeneous, hence menstrual hygiene management solutions need to be tailor-made to suit different socio-economic, cultural, and religious contexts. It is still crucial to educate women of all ages about menstrual hygiene management as alongside the issues above, cervical cancers are becoming more and more common. In the future, the government of Zimbabwe should handle menstrual hygiene management with urgency as it is an issue of human rights.

Works Cited

Light, Daniel, et al. “Improving students’ knowledge of puberty and menstruation in rural Zimbabwe: an evaluation of Sesame Workshop’s Girl Talk program.”  Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, Vol 11 No 5, 29 Dec 2020.

Mutunzi, Pela. “Dignity Denied: The Lost Power of Zimbabwean Girls and Women.” World Pulse, 21 Jan 2015, https://www.worldpulse.com/en/community/users/pelamutunzi/posts/27968.  29 Sept 2022.

Ndlovu, Everson, and Bhala, Ednah. “Menstrual hygiene – A salient hazard in rural schools: A case of Masvingo district of Zimbabwe.” Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies Vol 8 No 2, 13 Jan 2016, https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/204. 29 Sept 2022.

Stewart, Julie Elliot, et al. “The Zimbabwe Formative Research on Menstrual Hygiene Management, Final Report.” UNICEF, 13 Dec 2019, https://www.unicef.org/zimbabwe/documents/zimbabwe-formative-research-menstrual-hygiene-management. 29 Sept 2022.

Tembo, Mandikudza, et al. “Menstrual product choice and uptake among young women in Zimbabwe: a pilot study.” Pilot and Feasibility Studies Vol 6, 23 Nov 2020, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-020-00728-5. 29 Sept 2022.