Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) has gained some attention and several literature reviews have been published. However, both original papers and reviews tend to focus on absorbent access and use and not on the disposal of menstrual waste. This review aims to fill a gap in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector by bringing a focus specifically on menstrual hygiene safe disposal in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). We reviewed published literature since 2002 on menstrual hygiene with a focus on menstrual waste management and menstrual absorbent disposal in LMIC. Database searches were conducted of both peer reviewed literature and grey literature, in addition to hand searching of references of relevant earlier literature reviews. In total 152 articles and reports were identified and 75 met the inclusion criteria and was included in the final review. Existing polices on MHM was also reviewed with a focus on India and South Africa. The review showed that disposal of menstrual waste is often neglected MHM and sanitation value chains, leading to improper disposal and negative impacts on users, the sanitation systems and the environment. Findings call for further research to gain better understandings of MHM waste streams, disposal behaviors, absorbent materials and waste management technologies to deliver health, safety, mobility and dignity for women and girls.

Despite notable progress in reducing global poverty and hunger in recent decades, about one out of nine people in the world suffers from hunger and malnutrition. Stakeholders charged with making decisions pertaining to agricultural production, development priorities, and policies at a region-to-country scale require quantitative and up-to-date information on the types of crops being cultivated, the acreage under cultivation, and crop yields. However, many low- and middle-income countries lack the infrastructure and resources for frequent and extensive agricultural field surveys to obtain this information. Technology supports a change of paradigm. Traditional methods of obtaining agricultural information through field surveys are increasingly being augmented by images of the Earth acquired through sensors placed on satellites. The continued improvement in the resolution of satellite images, the establishment of open-access infrastructure for processing of the images, and the recent revolutionary progress in artificial intelligence make it feasible to obtain the information at low cost and in near-to-real time. In this brief, we discuss the use of satellite images to provide information about agricultural production in low-income countries, and we comment on research challenges and opportunities. We highlight the near-term potential of the methodology in the context of Rwanda, a country in sub-Saharan Africa whose government has recognized early the value of information technology in its strategic planning for food security and sustainability.