Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they support any activities that keep girls and young women at school during their periods in developing countries.

The UK is committed to ensuring another generation of girls do not miss out on education. In our 2018 Education Policy we shone a spotlight on supporting the hardest to reach girls to achieve 12 years of quality education and learning. This includes recognising the importance of providing menstrual hygiene facilities in schools and tackling discriminatory gender norms (including taboos around menstruation) to support girls to stay in education during their periods.

We support a range of interventions to support this ambition. The majority of our country-level school and community-level water and sanitation programmes include a strong focus on menstrual hygiene management. More specifically: we support the provision of menstrual hygiene facilities in 5000 schools across 10 countries; in Zimbabwe, our Secondary Education Programme is supporting over 24,000 vulnerable girls to stay in school during their periods by providing them with regular supplies of sanitary pads; and through the Girls’ Education Challenge Fund we support a range of school-based menstrual hygiene projects in 12 countries.