A three-day international conference on menstrual equality and human rights issues is to be held in Kathmandu with the participation of stakeholders from 21 countries.
What you should know
The 7th International Menstrual Awareness Day is being celebrated in Nepal. Every year, International Menstrual Awareness Day is celebrated worldwide on the 14th day (December 8) as part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.
The ‘International Menstrual Hygiene Learning Conference-2025’ is being organized by the ‘National Youth Council and Men Engage Alliance (Global)’ in collaboration with the Southern Hemisphere Menstrual Hygiene Network and the Radha Poudel Foundation. Today, at a press conference, Govinda Khadka, Press Advisor of the Conference Network, informed that the three-day conference will be organized in Kathmandu from December 8 to 10. This year too, the seventh International Menstrual Hygiene Day will be celebrated all over the world, including Nepal, with the slogan ‘Menstrual Hygiene for Dignity, Equality and Human Rights’.
The conference will feature 12 thematic sessions in the presence of more than 140 representatives, experts, policymakers, youth and stakeholders from 21 countries, including Nepal. The conference will include presentation sessions, panel discussions, plenary sessions, workshop strategies and working group formation sessions.
Similarly, representatives from Australia, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Congo, France, Germany, Guinea, India, Italy, Ivory Coast, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Spain, Togo and the US will participate in the conference along with Nepal.
Radha Poudel, founder of the Radha Poudel Foundation, said that this conference aims to comprehensively promote the message that ‘menstrual discrimination is gender-based violence, a violation of human rights and menstrual discrimination is worldwide’. ‘This conference is expected to advance policy debate globally by linking menstruation with dignity, exchange experiences, find evidence-based solutions and strengthen cooperation,’ she said.
This day, which started in Nepal under the leadership and coordination of the Government of Nepal, has now been established as an important international campaign celebrated in more than 70 countries around the world.
