Berkley Center

Rhya Evans (NHS’22) graduated from the School of Nursing and Health Studies in 2022 with a degree in global health and a minor in science, technology, and international affairs. Rhya was the 2020 Berkley Center-Pulitzer Center international reporting fellow. She explored the cultural and religious beliefs that influence menstruation, menstrual management, and its social and economic consequences among Rohingya women and girls. She particularly focused on uncovering the intersection of these cultural and lived realities with Islamic beliefs and practices. Her global upbringing, including many years in Bangladesh, has fueled her concern for deep-rooted and complex health inequities. While leading the Period Empowerment Project at Georgetown she has seen how this issue manifests in her own community. Rhya studied Bangla through the U.S. State Department’s Critical Language Scholarship during summer 2019.