NEWS DESK
ISLAMABAD: A National Consultation on Menstrual Health, Dignity, and Justice was held today at Serena Hotel, Islamabad, bringing together key stakeholders to discuss challenges and promote awareness and action on menstrual health. The consultation was jointly organised by Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA), Prime Minister’s Youth Programme (PMYP), National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), Institute for Social and Youth Development (ISYD), Embrace, and Menstrual Health Awareness and Action Network (MHAAN), with support from Fos Feminista and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD). The consultation brought together policymakers, government officials, UN agencies, civil society organisations, media professionals, and youth advocates, marking the high-level national dialogue in Pakistan to explicitly frame menstrual health as a rights-based priority intersecting education, gender equality, health, social protection, and dignity.
The centrepiece was a multi-stakeholder panel titled “The Missing Priority: Uniting Diverse Voices for National Action on Menstrual Health, Dignity, and Justice,” moderated by Ms. Rabia Pasha Gillani, Programme Officer for Adolescents and Youth at UNFPA Pakistan. The panel featured representatives from the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development, the National Disaster Management Authority, UN Women Pakistan, UNICEF Pakistan, the private sector, and youth leadership, each reflecting on their sector’s role in moving from awareness to systemic change.
Participants then engaged in six thematic breakout groups covering policy and legislation, education and stigma reduction, humanitarian and climate response, workplace dignity, media and narrative change, and adolescent and youth leadership. Each group presented one concrete commitment to the plenary, contributing to a consolidated set of recommendations to be shared with government ministries, parliamentarians, and development partners.
Special Guest remarks were delivered by Ms. Reema Shrestha, Director of Girls Education and Gender Equality for South Asia at Room to Read, and Prof. Dr. Shahzad Ali Khan, Vice Chancellor of the Health Services Academy. Chief Guest Ms. Romina Khurshid Alam, MNA and Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Climate Change, reaffirmed the government’s support to placing menstrual health firmly on the national policy agenda. Closing remarks were delivered by Ms. Syeda Amnah Batool, MNA and Focal Person of PMYP, and Ms. Noreen Bano Lehri, Chairperson of NCSW, both calling for sustained legislative, budgetary, and programmatic action beyond this dialogue.
“Menstrual health is not a hygiene issue. It is a rights issue and when we fail to address it, we are actively undermining the potential of an entire generation. Today is not a starting point. It is an overdue reckoning.” — Joshua Dilawar, Programme Manager, ITA