Menstruation in the context of "Menstrual hygiene management"

Human waste (or human excreta) refers to the waste products of the human digestive system, menses, and human metabolism including urine and feces. As part of a sanitation system that is in place, human waste is collected, transported, treated and disposed of or reused by one method or another, depending on the type of toilet being used, ability by the users to pay for services and other factors. Fecal sludge management is used to deal with fecal matter collected in on-site sanitation systems such as pit latrines and septic tanks.

The sanitation systems in place differ vastly around the world, with many people in developing countries having to resort to open defecation where human waste is deposited in the environment, for lack of other options. Improvements in "water, sanitation and hygiene" (WASH) around the world is a key public health issue within international development and is the focus of Sustainable Development Goal 6.

Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring gestates inside a woman's uterus. A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins.

Conception usually occurs following vaginal intercourse, but can also occur through assisted reproductive technology procedures. A pregnancy may end in a live birth, a miscarriage, an induced abortion, or a stillbirth. Childbirth typically occurs around 40 weeks from the start of the last menstrual period (LMP), a span known as the gestational age; this is just over nine months. Counting by fertilization age, the length is about 38 weeks. Implantation occurs on average 8–9 days after fertilization. An embryo is the term for the developing offspring during the first seven weeks following implantation (i.e. ten weeks' gestational age), after which the term fetus is used until the birth of a baby.

Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time, for example in a multiple birth.

The time interval of a gestation is called the gestation period. In obstetrics, gestational age refers to the time since the onset of the last menses, which on average is fertilization age plus two weeks.

A self-induced abortion (also called a self-managed abortion, or sometimes a self-induced miscarriage) is an abortion performed by the pregnant woman herself, or with the help of other, non-medical assistance. Although the term includes abortions induced outside of a clinical setting with legal, sometimes over-the-counter medication, it also refers to efforts to terminate a pregnancy through alternative, potentially more dangerous methods. Such practices may present a threat to the health of women in the case that they are incorrectly used.

Self-induced (or self-managed) abortion is often attempted during the beginning of pregnancy (the first eight weeks from the last menstrual period). In recent years, significant reductions in maternal death and injury resulting from self-induced abortions have been attributed to the increasing availability of misoprostol (known commercially as "Cytotec"). This medication is a synthetic prostaglandin E1 that is inexpensive, widely available, and has multiple uses, including the treatment of post-partum hemorrhage, stomach ulcers, cervical preparation and induction of labor. The World Health Organization (WHO) has endorsed two regimens for abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy using misoprostol: a standardized regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol and a regimen of misoprostol alone. The regimen with misoprostol alone has been shown to be up to 83% effective in terminating a pregnancy but is more effective combined with mifepristone.

The cervix (pl.: cervices) or uterine cervix (Latin: cervix uteri) is a dynamic fibromuscular sexual organ of the female reproductive system that connects the vagina with the uterine cavity. The human female cervix has been documented anatomically since at least the time of Hippocrates, over 2,000 years ago. The cervix is approximately 4 cm (1.6 in) long with a diameter of approximately 3 cm (1.2 in) and tends to be described as a cylindrical shape, although the front and back walls of the cervix are contiguous. The size of the cervix changes throughout a female's life cycle. For example, females in the fertile years of their reproductive cycle tend to have larger cervixes than postmenopausal females; likewise, females who have produced offspring have a larger cervix than those who have not.

In relation to the vagina, the part of the cervix that opens into the uterus is called the internal os while the opening of the cervix into the vagina is called the external os. Between those extremes is the conduit commonly called the cervical canal. The lower part of the cervix, known as the vaginal portion of the cervix (or ectocervix), bulges into the top of the vagina. The endocervix borders the uterus. The cervical conduit has at least two types of epithelium (lining): the endocervical lining is glandular epithelia that lines the endocervix with a single layer of column-shaped cells; while the ectocervical part of the conduit contains squamous epithelium. Squamous epithelia line the conduit with multiple layers of cells topped with flat cells. These two linings converge at the squamocolumnar junction (SCJ). This junction changes location dynamically throughout a female's life. The cervix is the organ that allows epithelia to flow from a female's uterus and out through her vagina at menstruation. Menstruation releases epithelia from a female’s uterus with every period of her fertile years, unless pregnancy occurs.