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From Latin America to Africa to the Far East, socio-cultural beliefs influence MHMpractices. In Bolivia, some girls believe that they must not shower in cold water whenmenstruating, for fear of falling ill, of becoming infertile or of having their menstrualcycle shorten. Neither must they participate in sports or run, for fear of creating orincreasing pain. Some foods, such as milk, are forbidden for fear of changing thecolour of the blood. In China, women believe that they must not wash their scalpduring their periods for fear of catching cold. In India and Nepal, menstruatingwomen must not worship, cook or touch particular foods.The Louga study reveals similar practices. Thus, a menstruating woman cannotmake mayonnaise as it will not thicken properly or make homemade yoghurt, oreven braid hair for fear of causing the braided person’s hair to fall out.The two studies reveal that sexual relations are not permitted during the menstrualperiod. In Louga, where more than 95% of respondents are Muslim, this is mainlybecause it is forbidden by the religion. In Bolivia, according to beliefs, sexualrelations during menstruation would lead to pregnancy.The two studies present similar results on infrastructure and access to goodinformation. In both cases infrastructure for safe and dignified management ofmenstruation is inadequate, where it exists at all.Other studies establish the link between the management of menstrual hygiene anda lack or inadequacy of infrastructure. 15 Thus, even in schools with toilets, thesetoilets never take account of the needs of disabled people.In Niger, no school had separate toilets for boys and girls. In Burkina Faso, only 50%of schools had separate toilets.WHO standards call for one toilet per 25 girls and one urinal per 50 boys. Keihas, onthe other hand, 16 showed that the ratio was two toilets for 666 pupils (i.e. 1:333) inNiger and six for 470 pupils (i.e. 1:78) in Burkina Faso.None of these schools had handwashing facilities. Handwashing facilities werefound in 33% of schools in Niger and 60% in Burkina Faso, located outside the toiletsmaking it difficult to manage menstruation in private. Thus, girls find it hard towash either their re-usable sanitary pads or their hands, for fear of being seen.BackgroundAccording to these studies, the inadequacy of toilets has a negative impact onpupils’ hygiene and on girls’ attention and participation in school when they aremenstruating. In addition, this discourages them from attending school duringtheir periods.The existing literature shows that menstruation remains a taboo subject and that it isnot taken into account in planning, policies or budgets.It should be noted, nevertheless, that none of the studies included in their samplewomen from a variety of age groups and social economic categories.This study has been conducted with girls and women from the Kedougou region,including those living with disabilities, those in prison, girls attending school andnot attending school, housewives, and lastly, women working in the formal andinformal sectors.15 Laura KEIHAS. L’hygiène menstruelle dans les écoles de deux pays francophones d’Afrique de l’Ouest,Burkina Faso et Niger. Études de cas en 2013. UNICEF. 2013.16 Ibid.19