Menstrual health is inextricably linked to outcomes outlined in the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action to accelerate reproductive health outcomes and strive for a world of gender equity.

Without elevating access to menstrual health and establishing an enabling environment to create access to menstrual health information, products, services, and facilities, the bold vision of ICPD will not be possible.

A pathway for addressing these outcomes is facilitating healthy market structures for destigmatized, unbiased access to menstrual health information, products, services, and facilities and cross-sectoral impact on areas such as family planning, water and sanitation, and education.

To ensure sustained access and cross-sectoral impact, investments to strengthen menstrual health markets should prioritize innovation and choice, explore integrated delivery of products and services (beyond just menstrual products), and address structural market barriers across the value chain, with leadership from key stakeholders in the Global South.

In 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) placed sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) at the forefront of the global agenda. From Cairo, 179 governments pledged support for the bold Programme of Action, calling upon the global community to accelerate efforts to support family planning (FP) and maternal health and to recognize the innate linkages between women’s reproductive health (RH) and economic empowerment and participation.1 In the years since, the ICPD Programme of Action has seen various iterations, adaptations, and new calls to action as new evidence emerges, demographic trends shift, efforts stall, and new sociopolitical trends take center stage. Despite new commitments made under its many iterations—the original 1994 Programme of Action, 20th Anniversary Edition, and the Nairobi Summit commitments from 2019— an important commitment that is intricately linked with outcomes related to SRHR, education, and women’s economic participation and gender equity has always been absent: …