As the world marks Menstrual Hygiene Day 2025, WaterAid Nigeria has called for national recognition of menstrual health as a human right, not a privilege.
The organisation urged governments, schools, and communities to break the silence around menstruation and challenge harmful taboos to ensure that every girl and woman can manage her period with dignity, confidence, and safety—thereby advancing menstrual health equity.
The Country Director of WaterAid Nigeria, Evelyn Mere, speaking at an event to mark this year’s Menstrual Hygiene Day, said that every day, millions of people who menstruate face stigma, shame, and health risks due to a lack of basic menstrual hygiene facilities and knowledge.
She noted that, despite menstrual health being both an education and gender equality issue, millions of women and girls in Nigeria still lack access to basic water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services, as well as accurate information and safe spaces to manage their periods. According to her, this lack contributes to keeping girls out of school and prevents women from participating fully in daily life.
According to the 2021 WASH National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASHNORM) survey, only about 46% of Nigerians have access to basic sanitation services, and just 13% use improved sanitation facilities with proper handwashing stations. For menstruating girls and women, this gap leads to shame, infections, and stigma—often with lifelong consequences.
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She said, “It is unacceptable that menstruation continues to limit the potential of millions of girls and women in Nigeria. No one should miss school, feel ashamed, or be unsafe simply because they are menstruating. A period-friendly world is one where dignity, access, and rights are protected for everyone, regardless of age, location, or income.
This year’s theme, ‘Together for a #PeriodFriendlyWorld,’ resonates deeply with WaterAid’s mission. Periods should never be a barrier to education, livelihood, or dignity. Yet, 500 million people globally lack access to adequate menstrual products and facilities. In partnership with schools, health institutions, communities, and government at both national and sub-national levels, WaterAid Nigeria is implementing menstrual health and hygiene management (MHHM) interventions. These include providing WASH facilities in schools, establishing hygiene clubs, producing and distributing reusable pads, and conducting community sensitisation efforts.”
She added, “These initiatives are designed to foster supportive environments where menstruation is normalised and no one is forced to choose between managing their period and living their life with dignity. This Menstrual Hygiene Day, WaterAid Nigeria is renewing its call to integrate menstrual health into national and sub-national WASH, health, gender, and education policies; to prioritise inclusive and climate-resilient WASH facilities and menstrual services in schools and public spaces; to challenge menstrual stigma through community engagement and advocacy; and to invest in behaviour change and community education to tackle harmful norms.
WaterAid invites the public, policymakers, and partners to join the movement and help create a world where no one is held back by their period. Together, we can create a Nigeria where menstruation is no longer a barrier to opportunity, safety, or dignity.”
Speaking with Tribune Online, the Executive Director of SKLD Integrated Services, Tayo Osiyemi, said the organisation, through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, has been supporting women and girls across the country by providing sanitary pads, general hygiene kits, and vocational items to empower them.
“What we have done is provide educational resources, hygiene materials, and a lot of humanitarian aid to NGOs. We also work with several schools. We’re here today commemorating World Menstrual Hygiene Day.
We are having conversations around creating a period-friendly world, and for us, what we have consistently done through our CSR initiative is support girls and women across the country—in Lagos, Abuja, and the North-East. Our primary focus has been providing sanitary pads and WASH kits to young girls and women.
We also find ways to provide vocational tools to empower women. Creating a world that embraces hygiene, rejects stigma, and does not allow this biological reality to be used to exploit or exclude women and girls is critical. We believe strongly in contributing to that kind of world.
Our view about Menstrual Hygiene Day, as this year’s theme ‘A Period-Friendly World’ suggests, is that both men and women must embrace menstrual hygiene and support girls and women through this biological uniqueness.
We believe it should not be a source of stigma but something we all come together to support and celebrate. No girl should be excluded from education or economic opportunities because of her period,” Osiyemi told Tribune Online.
Menstrual Hygiene Day, observed every year on May 28, has grown into a global movement over the past decade. It generates worldwide attention on menstruation through media coverage, events, and social media campaigns.
This global momentum drives critical conversations and puts pressure on key institutions, governments, UN agencies, and corporate organisations to take action—from launching new programmes to adopting progressive policies.