Stakeholders demand affordable, quality menstrual products

By Chioma Obinna

Stakeholders in the health, manufacturing, regulatory and development sectors have called for urgent policy and regulatory reforms to make menstrual products more affordable and accessible to millions of Nigerian women and girls battling period poverty.

The call was made at the Nigeria Menstrual Health Forum: “Driving Standards and Policy Reform for Affordable Menstrual Products,”organised in Lagos by the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, in collaboration with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, with funding from the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund, SHF.

The two-day forum brought together government agencies, manufacturers, private sector players, civil society organisations and development partners to address affordability, quality standards, local production and market access for menstrual products.

An estimated 37 million women and girls in Nigeria are affected by period poverty, while 24 per cent of schoolgirls regularly miss classes because of inadequate menstrual materials and poor water, sanitation and hygiene facilities.

The situation has been worsened by inflation, with the price of menstrual pads rising from about N200–N400 three years ago to N500–N750 or more, forcing some women and girls to resort to unsafe alternatives, including old cloth, mattress foam and reused sanitary pads.

Speaking at the forum, UNFPA Gender and Adolescent Unit representative, Dr Zubaida Abubakar, said the focus was not merely on increasing access to menstrual products but ensuring that products available in the market were affordable, safe and of good quality.

“This forum marks a turning point in Nigeria’s menstrual health landscape. By driving standards and policy reform, we aim to dismantle barriers to access, ensure dignity for women and girls, and unlock opportunities for education, health, and empowerment,” Abubakar said.

She explained that the objective was to create an environment where local manufacturers could produce menstrual commodities at lower costs rather than relying mainly on government subsidies.

“We cannot expect the government alone to be responsible for subsidising menstrual commodities. What we want to do is make sure that the manufacturers are enabled to be able to produce them at a lower cost,” she said.

According to her, the goal was to “flood the market with affordable, quality-standard” products capable of reaching women and girls across the country.

The forum also focused on strengthening standards and certification to prevent substandard menstrual products from entering the Nigerian market.

Head, National Product Certification Department, SON, Mrs Phebean Arumemi, said standards could help manufacturers reduce production costs by minimising waste and improving production processes.

“One of the key benefits from standards is cost management,” Arumemi said, stressing that the agency was working with manufacturers, particularly micro, small and medium enterprises, MSMEs, to improve their capacity to meet quality requirements.

She said SON’s priority was not to shut down factories but to provide mentorship and compliance support.

“Our first priority is not to close down factories. It is mentorship support to help them escalate from where they are now,” she said.

Also speaking, Elisha Sule of SHF said greater coordination among regulators, manufacturers and financiers was critical to developing a sustainable menstrual health market.

“The businesses are there, the regulators are there, NAFDAC is there, SON is there. We need someone to bring us all together to keep talking. And so, without that coordination, we’re not going to be able to move forward,” Sule said.

He said many women-led businesses in the sector required capacity building and access to finance to scale production, urging stronger collaboration with financial institutions, including the Development Bank of Nigeria, DBN.

Meanwhile, investment adviser, Kunle Awolowo of ONYX Investment Advisory Limited, advocated import substitution to reduce production costs, noting that up to 90 per cent of inputs used by some local manufacturers were imported.

He also suggested smaller product packages to make menstrual products more affordable to low-income consumers.

The forum is part of the SHF-funded initiative, Menstrual Health & Hygiene: Unlocking Women’s Power, implemented across six African countries.

Nigeria has adopted the Africa Regional Standard for menstrual products and is pursuing ISO certification, while it has also developed a National Policy on Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management, 2025–2030.
The stakeholders said ending period poverty would not only restore dignity but also improve health, school attendance, gender equality and women’s economic participation.