Menstrual Health: Taking Action Against Period Poverty

Many menstruators tend to conceal their menses out of fear or embarrassment, which yields conditioned self-silencing of their needs and further perpetuation of a generational and societal spiral of silence.9 This resounding stigma continually hinders both open discussion and policy engagement on menstrual experiences, management, and hygiene needs. [...]the purpose of this work is to combat this stigma by describing five actionable steps we can all take to begin addressing period poverty. Many who learn of this real and concerning phenomenon are surprised. [...]the definition of and concepts related to period poverty need to be openly discussed in public forums, such as town halls, city council meetings, and school board meetings-any place where social services and resource limitations are discussed. CONDUCT RESEARCH AND ENGAGE WITH THE COMMUNITY In-depth understanding and research on period poverty remain limited, and further research is needed to better conceptualize the full impact of period poverty in the community. [...]application of collaborative communitybased participatory research (CBPR) is necessary. CBPR places emphasis on community-researcher collaboration, which can uncover unique insights into the sociocultural composition of the community.9 This partnership-based approach can help to develop a more comprehensive understanding of public health concerns within a specific population, as well as potential solutions.9 CBPR may help facilitate and foster new evidence-based understanding of period poverty and can be used to ultimately address menstrual equity. [...]varied research methodologies should be considered and explored.

Experiences of New Mothers During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: To describe postpartum experiences of women who gave birth during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, to identify short-term and long-term opportunities to address maternal-child health during this pandemic. METHODS: This qualitative photo-elicitation study asked 30 women between 3 and 10 weeks postpartum to take photographs that encompassed their experience as a new mother during the pandemic. Two trained interviewers elicited elements of this experience using the photos as an anchor during virtual, hour-long interviews. Interview transcripts were analyzed using directed content analysis, including open coding to identify key ideas, codebook development, and codebook refinement. Half of transcripts were team coded to ensure coding accuracy. After coding, the study team organized codes to inform the development of an explanatory model. RESULTS: Interviews identified important stressors new mothers experienced that were worsened during the pandemic, namely fear, child care, older children, loss, isolation, and employment. Interviews also highlighted key support structures (self-care, interpersonal, and structural supports) that were at times helpful in alleviating stressors and at others were inadequate to counter stress and even enhanced stress. CONCLUSION: For postpartum individuals overall, the pandemic resulted in increased strain during an already stressful time. These findings demonstrate inadequacy of support systems for postpartum women and may highlight action items for stakeholders to improve postpartum care during the pandemic and in the future.

Entertainment-Education Campaigns and COVID-19: How Three Global Organizations Adapted the Health Communication Strategy for Pandemic Response and Takeaways for the Future.

COVID-19 created a substantial set of challenges for health communication practitioners in the process of planning, implementing, and evaluating entertainment-education (EE) campaigns. EE is a theory and evidence-based communication strategy that employs entertainment media for educational messaging. Here, we briefly review EE campaigns in response to previous health emergencies and present three cases of EE responses to the COVID-19 pandemic from leading global organizations (PCI Media, BBC Media Action, and Sesame Workshop). Responses ranged from adaptation and re-distribution of existing content to creating new content under social-distancing restrictions and utilizing transmedia. These cases demonstrate that EE initiatives responding to future pandemics may be well served by starting with existing infrastructure to quickly build capacity, support, and trust; working with partners to tailor programs to the local context; and continuing to focus on good storytelling while simultaneously considering evolving media formats and theory.