Tufton unveils J$50m menstrual health pilot as state targets period poverty

Jamaica’s government intends to tackle period poverty, Health Minister Christopher Tufton said on Tuesday as he spoke during his sectoral debate presentation in Parliament.

Tufton said menstrual need is among ten priority strands under the administration’s new Social Determinants of Health CARE Fund, valued at half a billion dollars.

“We will be embarking on a multi-sectoral National Menstrual Health Equity pilot initiative to distribute menstrual hygiene kits and conduct education sessions in eight schools with high concentrations of PATH-registered girls, using an integrated school-health approach to adolescent wellness – incorporating menstrual wellness with WASH (water, sanitization, hygiene) improvements, HPV vaccinations, personal hygiene education, and HIV/STI prevention,” Tufton said.

“This 18-month pilot project, estimated at J$50 million, is expected to benefit 2,000 girls while also reaching boys, teachers, parents, and school health personnel through education and community engagement activities. A multi-sectoral Technical Working Group, co-chaired by the MOHW and MOESYI, will be convened to coordinate the pilot and produce an evaluation report that will guide policy development and programmatic rollout,” Tufton added.

Although seldom aired in public debate, unmet menstrual needs have long shadowed girls across the island, with little visible state action until now.

Period poverty describes when girls and young women cannot reliably obtain pads or tampons, decent toilets and washing points, or sound guidance on hygiene; globally the condition is said to touch close to half a billion people and can push users toward unsafe substitutes.

Local surveys cited in the discussion place roughly 44 per cent of schoolgirls in the affected column, with about one in four skipping lessons during menstruation because products or suitable bathrooms are missing—losses that can stack up to around three months of class time across a school year.

Sanitary brand Always launched a push in 2021 to shrink that gap, handing out 200,000 pads between 2021 and 2022.

That corporate effort bolsters the HerFlow Foundation, founded in 2016 by Shelly-Ann Weeks, which uses education on reproductive health and rights to chip away at period poverty.

What began with support for three schools has widened to more than 300 schools, state-run children’s residences and 28 clinics, with organisers reporting in excess of six million period products distributed.