The IGC Secretariat cordially invites you to the IGC Lunch and Learn: Closing the Menstrual Health Gap on Tuesday, 3 June from 12:00 to 13:00 CET.
This ‘Lunch and Learn’ will explore the vital connection between menstrual health and justice to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - and why this issue is often overlooked in global development discussions. The SDGs are a roadmap toward a more equitable and sustainable future, with gender considerations being integrated across a number of goals and SDG5 focusing specifically on achieving gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls. Yet, menstrual health, which is key to attaining gender equality, remains largely absent from these goals.
According to UN Women, every month, more than two billion people around the world menstruate (WHO and UNICEF 2023). Around 613 million women and girls rely on materials such as old cloth or toilet paper to manage their menstruation (Leap Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition 2025). An estimated 500 million women and girls lack access to appropriate facilities for menstrual hygiene management (World Bank 2018).
At the same time, menstruation remains shrouded in stigma and taboo in many communities, further marginalising those who menstruate. These cultural and social barriers, combined with inadequate access to products, sanitation and information, deepen existing gender inequalities and limit the full participation of people who menstruate (PWM) in education, employment and public life.
As we approach the 2030 timeline for the attainment of the SDGs, closing the menstrual health gap is now more important than ever. That means elevating menstrual health and justice on the international agenda to address disparities in access to safe and affordable period products, sanitation, education, and build stigma-free environments that can ensure the self-actualisation of individuals who menstruate.
Speakers:
- Pernille Fenger, Director, UNFPA Geneva Office
- Marcela Coen Moraga, Minister-Counsellor, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Costa Rica to the United Nations Office and other International Organisations in Geneva
- Adrian Dongus, Menstrual Hygiene Markets Specialist, UN Sanitation and Hygiene Fund
We will offer this event as a brown-bag lunch in a hybrid format. If you are available to attend in-person, please join us on the seventh floor of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). Please note that in-person attendance is limited to 25 participants and that spots will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. In-person participants are invited to bring their own lunch.
Kindly RSVP by Monday 2 June via the following link to let us know whether you will attend in-person or online.