Locating heterogeneity in Menstrual Hygiene Scheme impact on Indian adolescent girls

Abstract

AbstractIndia has seen Menstrual Hygiene Scheme for 15-19 aged adolescents as a mass movement in 2011 with Intervention, Education, Communication (IEC) interventions and subsidized menstrual product. While the phenomenal increase in hygienic menstrual usage during 2010-20 is celebrated, it leaves us to question if this is the MHS in play or a gradual transition due to overall developmental drive. As the age-cohorts move out of the beneficiary net over time, sustainability of the program can only be reflected if there is a behavioral change which is captured through difference in choice patterns over duration of program exposure. Using triple difference-in- difference methodology on unit level data from NFHS 4, the results find that overall the program fails to mark any significant effect on choice of hygienic product in India. However, the low rung of the cohorts in terms of education and media exposure reap the benefit of the scheme, leaving the better-off counterparts unaffected. This concludes that the issues targeted through the scheme is holistic to reach the lowest strata of the society, but a proper choice of target cohort can considerably reduce the project cost, free it of supply side inefficiencies and enhance targeting of IEC techniques, thereby making the scheme more effective.