Menstrual Product Safety in the Spotlight: Moving From Evidence to Action on Women’s Health
© GIZ/Dirk Gornickel
New findings on metals in menstrual products raise troubling questions about potential risks for women’s health. An event on the sidelines of the World Health Summit in Berlin brought together groups working to ensure that women everywhere have access to menstrual products that are safe, affordable and environmentally sustainable.
How safe are the products which women around the world rely on every month to manage their periods? The short answer is: no one really knows, but there is a growing community of people determined to find out.
This was one of the main takeaways from an event entitled ‘From Evidence to Action: Tackling Women’s Health Risks by Ensuring Menstrual Product Safety,’ held on October 10 in Berlinon the sidelines of the 2025 World Health Summit. The gathering was organised by the Gates Foundation, Siemens Stiftung, The Sanitation and Hygiene Fund, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), working on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
New research highlights potential health risks from menstrual products
At the gathering, which took place at the GIZ Representation in Berlin, a cross-section of actors from the global menstrual health community listened as Dr Kathrin Schilling, Assistant Professor at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University presented results from recent research into metals in menstrual products . What she and her team have found is unsettling: metals – including toxic ones, such as lead, uranium and antimony – are present in menstrual products sourced from more than 30 countries across the globe
The study tested a range of single-use and reusable products purchased in high-income countries, as well as in low- and middle-income ones.
Where these metals come from, and what impacts they may have upon women’s bodies, is not well understood. However, given that some metals have been linked to long-term effects on health and well-being, there is an urgent need to investigate further. The typical woman has more than 450 periods, and uses more than 10,000 menstrual products, over the course of her lifetime. At present, there are no global standards for menstrual products and little way for consumers to know what is in the products they purchase and use.
Research, policy and practice converge around menstrual products
The growing attention being paid to menstrual product safety dovetails with efforts long underway by menstrual health advocates, social entrepreneurs, innovators, philanthropists, development partners and public health and WASH experts to tackle ‘period poverty’ as a systematic barrier to girls’ and women’s development.
‘Menstrual health and product safety is a critical issue for addressing women’s health risks worldwide,’ said Randa Kourieh-Ranarivelo, the head of GIZ’s Berlin Representation, in her welcoming remarks. Over the past decade, intensive advocacy, awareness-raising measures and social media campaigns, such as the global Menstrual Hygiene Day movement and the German-supported #LetsTalkPERIOD initiative, have made headway in breaking the stigma and silence surrounding menstruation.
Despite this, more than 500 million women still do not have access to safe menstrual products and facilities to manage their periods hygienically and with dignity.
‘Every year we understand more about the connection between menstrual health and broader health,’ says Dr Ru-Fong Joanne Cheng, the Director of Women’s Health Innovations at the Gates Foundation. ‘It’s exciting to see how decades of work has gotten us to this moment of acceleration.’
Global standards will unlock markets in low- and middle-income countries
Commercial menstrual products made by multinational companies are too expensive for many women in low- and middle-income countries, yet often these are the only options which consumers can purchase. Adrian Dongus, the Menstrual Health Market Specialist at the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund, explained that local manufacturers have trouble getting their products to markets, and distributors struggle to import innovative menstrual products, because there are no global standards which indicate if a product is safe.
‘We have awesome products available today,’ Adrian Dongus says. ‘But these products are not available on the shelves and in the countries where lowest income users live. In the absence of global standards, product innovations don’t reach the people who most need them.’
The good news is that momentum is building behind ISO Technical Committee 338, which is working to develop the first global standards for menstrual product quality, safety and performance. With support from the Gates Foundation, The Sanitation and Hygiene Fund, and Invest for Jobs, more than 55 countries are now part of the standards development process. It is expected that the first voluntary standards will be finalised by mid-2027.
From promising ideas to sustainable businesses – and sustainable products
While the standards process unfolds at a global level, social entrepreneurs and innovators are already working to fill the need for quality, affordable menstrual products countries in low- and middle-income countries. Not only do they bring deep local knowledge and an understanding of the types of products which consumers need, but they often have creative ideas for how to use locally grown materials that biodegrade and do not contribute to plastic pollution.
‘What entrepreneurs need is access to funding and finance, strong networks and partnerships to scale their operations, and knowledge to grow sustainable businesses,’ says Jonas Restle-Steinert, Head of Social Innovation Hub at Siemens Stiftung, which supports the Female Health and Hygiene Accelerator together with the Agency for Business and Economic Development and Invest for Jobs, among others.
One project supported by the Accelerator is Eco-Me Africa, a Ghanaian social enterprise that produces reusable sanitary pads. Amdiya Abdul Latiff, the founder of Eco-Me Africa, described her journey from a small NGO to the head of a company that has created 25 jobs, produced 200,000 pads and avoided an estimated 3.5 million kilograms of waste. Eco-Me Africa now aims to establish the first reusable pad factory in Ghana and to expand distribution into other parts of West Africa.
Anestha Kothari, a research associate at the Prakash Lab at Stanford University, presented the work her team – the PlantPad Consortium – is doing with partners in Kenya on the development of sanitary pads made out of sisal fibres. Fabien Matthias, the co-founder of NIDISI, described the approach to sanitary pad production they have innovated in Nepal using banana fibres . NIDISI’s designs are completely open source and available on PANORAMA, a clearing house for innovative solutions for a healthy planet.
A new era for menstrual products: ‘The Time is Now’
The ideas and solutions showcased at ‘From Evidence to Action’ underscored how much good news there is alongside the sobering reminders about the work that still needs to be done. The menstrual health community is standing on the cusp of great opportunities, and finding and developing scalable solutions to period poverty will only be possible through continued joint work. The SHEROES of Future Female Africa – whose sounds filled the atrium of the GIZ Representation as the event wrapped up – put it best in their musical call to action for safe, dignified menstrual health for all: #TheTimeIsNow!
Link to full event recording: https://youtu.be/TwTXqQBnOso?si=TqrTGbwwAL-QZt_G
Karen Birdsall
October 2025