The MHH Priority Indicators
Priority List of Indicators for Girls' MHH
The MHH Priority Indicators are 21 priority indicators at individual, school, and national levels that span key domains including materials, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), knowledge, discomfort and disorders, supportive social environment, menstrual health impacts, and policy. Developed through a global expert consensus process, these indicators support standardized monitoring across countries and can help generate data used to inform policy, programs, and investment in menstrual health. To date, this initiative has focused on the menstruation-related issues impacting girls in and out of school, as adolescent girls represent the population with the strongest existing body of evidence.
Each indicator includes standardized measurement questions. A full set of guidance and tools has been developed to support governments, researchers, and implementing partners to strengthen MHH monitoring. Countries and programs can select and adapt indicators based on their priorities, systems, and data needs.
Technical Guidance and Training Materials
Access practical guidance and training materials designed to support the selection, adaptation, and implementation of the Priority MHH Indicators in monitoring and data collection efforts.
Technical Guidance
Guidance: Priority List of Indicators for Girls' MHH: Technical Guidance for National Monitoring
This guidance document presents the Short List of MHH Priority Indicators, a set of 21 indicators developed through a collaborative global expert consultation process to support consistent national monitoring of menstrual health and hygiene among adolescent girls.
Technical Guidance Summaries
Guidance summary: Priority List of Indicators for Girls' MHH: Technical Guidance for National Monitoring
This summary guide provides a concise overview of the Priority List of Indicators for Girls' MHH: Technical Guidance for National Monitoring.
Guidance: Integrating MHH indicators from the short list into research and program monitoring
This guidance note explains how the MHH Priority Indicators can be incorporated into research studies and program monitoring efforts to strengthen measurement and improve comparability across settings.
Infographic: Short List of Priority Indicators
This infographic provides a visual summary of the 21 Priority Indicators for Girls’ Menstrual Health and Hygiene, organized across seven domains: materials, WASH, knowledge, discomfort/disorders, supportive social environment, menstrual health impacts, and policy.
Infographic: Summary of Priority Indicators
This infographic presents the 21 MHH Priority Indicators organized by domain and level of data collection.
Fact sheet: Compilation of MHH Indicators
This resource compiles menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) indicators from a range of global monitoring and data collection efforts, including the Short List of Priority MHH Indicators, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), the Global Action for Measurement of Adolescent Health (GAMA) Advisory Group, and school health surveys.
Training Materials
Training Deck
Training Deck: Uptake of MHH Indicators and Measures: Training on SCHOOL-LEVEL indicators
This training resource supports enumerators and monitoring teams in collecting high-quality data on the school-level MHH Priority Indicators.
Training Deck: Uptake of MHH Indicators and Measures: Training on INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL indicators
This training resource supports enumerators and monitoring teams in collecting high-quality data on the individual-level MHH Priority Indicators.
Please complete a short form to receive the PowerPoint versions of these training materials via email.
How the Short List of Priority MHH Indicators was developed
A collaboration of MHH experts, in consultation with national experts and monitoring stakeholders in four exemplar countries, led development of the short list. Efforts were supported by members of a Global Advisory Group of monitoring experts. For detailed methods on the development of the short list and to view the full list of experts who contributed to the MHH Priority Indicators, please see the Green Paper and Annex 1-5 of the Priority List of Indicators for Girls’ Menstrual Health and Hygiene: Technical Guidance for National Monitoring.