At the end of November members of the MeJARa team at the University of Bath travelled to Kathmandu, Nepal, to connect with collaborators from CREHPA and attend the 6th Asian Population Association Conference.

The Asian Population Association (APA) is a membership organisation for people contributing to the scientific study of population issues in Asia. This includes those conducting research across topics such as fertility, sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender, mortality, and migration, among others. Researchers, policymakers and students attended the conference which took place at The Soaltee hotel and was formally opened by the Prime Minister of Nepal, KP Sharma Oli.

Menstrual health and justice continue to be neglected areas of research so we were pleased to have multiple opportunities throughout the four-day conference to highlight their importance and acknowledge their place within demography and population studies. The following MeJARa team members presented their work:

Melanie Channon (PI), University of Bath:

  • Beyond Side Effects: Rethinking the Role of Contraceptive Induced Menstrual Changes in the Measurement of Contraceptive Use and Unmet Need
  • The Mental Health Burden of Menstrual Restrictions in Nepal: Evidence From Cross-Sectional Survey Data

Minakshi Dahal, University of Bath:

  • Physical and Psychosocial Aspects of Menstruation: An Analysis of Public Policies in Nepal

Josephine McAllister, University of Bath:

  • Exploring the Impact of Social Norms on Adolescent Girls’ Menstrual Health in Nepal

Silviya Chaulagain, CREHPA:

  • Understanding menstrual experiences and needs of adolescent girls in Nepal: Developing an intervention to address what matters most

The presentations and posters garnered a lot of interest from conference attendees demonstrating the increasing interest in menstrual research across disciplines. We will make the posters and presentation slides publicly available on our website soon.

Overall, we had a brilliant time at the APA conference and hope we can return to share further findings from the MeJARa project in the future.

Written by:

Josephine Mcallister