On Friday, August 15, 2025, Nigeria validated and launched its first-ever nationwide Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management (MHHM) Policy, becoming the first African country to do so. This policy is celebrated as a milestone in public health and as the outcome of decades of women’s organizing that pushed governments to recognize menstrual health as central to dignity, equality, and justice. By placing menstrual health on the national agenda, Nigeria signals that what has long been treated as a private matter is, in fact, a public priority.

For too long, millions of women and girls have faced exclusion from schools, workplaces, leadership, and governance because of stigma, lack of access to products, and unsafe facilities. Menstrual health is rarely discussed within the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda, yet it directly cuts across its four pillars. When girls miss school because of inadequate menstrual support, their future participation in decision-making and leadership, including in peace processes is curtailed. For women in conflict zones and displacement camps, the absence of safe facilities not only limits their ability to participate in governance but also exposes them to harassment, gender-based violence, and disease, undermining both their protection and their agency.

In Sudan, for example, REWiB’s research on displaced women in Port Sudan revealed that the war has left most reproductive health facilities non-functional, forcing women to rely on unsafe birthing methods and to improvise menstrual materials like cloth. Many women and girls reported harassment and violence when seeking healthcare, while school-aged girls lacked even the most basic hygiene supplies. Menstrual insecurity in these contexts deepens cycles of vulnerability exposing women to gender-based violence in camps, eroding their dignity, and locking them into structural inequality that fuels marginalization and, ultimately, conflict.

This new policy commits to changing this reality through education, awareness, and investment in safe and affordable menstrual care. For women and girls, this could be transformative. It promises to reduce absenteeism in schools so more girls can finish their education, ease the financial strain on families by ensuring access to affordable products, and expand safe WASH facilities in schools, workplaces, and displacement camps. In these spaces, especially for displaced populations, menstrual dignity is not just a matter of health but a necessity for protection, inclusion, and recovery.

What makes Nigeria’s step unique is its integration of menstrual health into a national framework, rather than leaving it to fragmented donor programs. By embedding menstrual dignity into education, health, and peacebuilding strategies, the policy recognizes it as a systemic priority and as part of breaking cycles of marginalization. Nigeria sets a precedent for other countries, and for conflict-affected contexts such as Sudan, where women’s dignity is further stripped away during war, as highlighted in REWiB’s findings. Crucially, menstrual dignity must also be embedded in humanitarian aid standards, ensuring that women in crises are not forced to choose between their safety and their basic needs.

Ultimately, this new policy demonstrates that menstrual health is not simply a matter of hygiene, but of dignity, equality, and peace. It is a reminder that peacebuilding begins not only at negotiation tables but also in classrooms, camps, workplaces, and every space where women and girls claim their right to live free of stigma and exclusion. Positioning menstrual dignity as a humanitarian and post-conflict recovery necessity strengthens not only individual rights but the foundations of inclusive peace and justice.

By Lorraine Mashizha