Effect of Hygiene and Menstrual Hygiene Interventions on Learning and Psychosocial Wellbeing in Madagascar

A previous study in schools in rural Madagascar found that a bundle of hygiene-focused interventions substantially improved girls' learning outcomes. This study disentangles the effects of physical infrastructure (latrines, handwashing basins) from other intervention components (peer sensitization and free sanitary pad distribution) in a cluster-randomized trial across 140 secondary schools in the Amoron'i Mania region. The trial originally measured learning and psychosocial wellbeing outcomes and was prospectively registered with the AEA RCT Registry (AEARCTR-0014423). The study team is now also collecting secondary health biomarker outcomes (e.g., salivary cortisol and blood-based C-reactive protein) and is registering those health biomarker endpoints with ClinicalTrials.gov.

NCT Number	NCT07702916
Lead Sponsor	University of California Santa Cruz Collaborators: Paris School of Economics, Laboratoire d'Analyses Médicales Malagasy (LA2M), Consultant Associates, Care International
Conditions	Urinary Tract Infections, Malnutrition, Inflammation, Stress, Menstrual Hygiene
Enrollment	3,080 participants
Start Date	2024-10-01
Primary Completion	2026-08 (estimated)
Study Completion	2026-12 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-07-14