The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have strengthened collaboration to promote the safety, quality, acceptability and affordability of menstrual health products in Nigeria.
The Director-General of SON, Dr Ifeanyi Okeke, disclosed this at the Nigeria Menstrual Health Product Forum 2026 in Lagos, themed, “Driving Standards and Policy Reform for Affordable Menstrual Products.”
Okeke said stronger collaboration among regulators, government agencies, manufacturers and development partners was necessary to ensure that women and girls had access to menstrual products that met required standards without becoming unaffordable.
“Quality and affordability must not be treated as competing objectives,” he said.
According to him, SON would continue to support initiatives aimed at strengthening standards, consumer protection and regulatory oversight in the menstrual health products sector.
He added that effective standards would protect consumers, build confidence in the market and encourage responsible manufacturing.
Also speaking at the forum, UNFPA Gender/GBV Management Specialist, Dr Zubaida Abubakar, called for the establishment of sanitary pad banks in schools across the country to prevent girls from missing classes and examinations because of menstruation.
Abubakar identified the rising cost of menstrual products, inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities, and limited access to quality products as major contributors to period poverty.
She urged governments, civil society organisations, donors and philanthropists to support school-based pad banks that could provide emergency menstrual supplies to girls who begin their periods while in school.
However, she stressed that the provision of sanitary pads must be complemented by adequate WASH facilities and safe disposal systems.
Abubakar said UNFPA was also working with stakeholders to review taxes, duties and levies affecting manufacturers and importers of menstrual products, with a view to reducing production costs and improving affordability.
She cited World Bank estimates indicating that about 24 per cent of Nigerian schoolgirls regularly miss school because of inadequate menstrual materials and WASH infrastructure.
She also noted that UNICEF estimates about 37 million women and girls in Nigeria experience period poverty.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Director, Child Development Department, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Mariam Shuaibu, said the availability of disposable and reusable menstrual products in the Nigerian market did not automatically guarantee their quality.
“It’s not just about having products in the market, but we want to ensure that those products meet the standards and quality that is desired to be used by women and girls in Nigeria,” she said.
Shuaibu explained that period poverty extended beyond the inability to purchase sanitary pads, noting that a girl could have access to menstrual products but still lack water, privacy or a safe facility for disposal.
The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs further disclosed that Nigeria’s National Policy on Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management had undergone consultations across the six geopolitical zones and had been validated.
The ministry said efforts were ongoing to secure Federal Executive Council approval for the policy and facilitate its subsequent adoption by states.
Stakeholders at the forum agreed that stronger standards, supportive policies, improved infrastructure and coordinated interventions were critical to developing a menstrual health products sector capable of guaranteeing safety, quality, acceptability and affordability for women and girls across Nigeria.
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