Page 25 - English Tehelka Issue 5 - March 15, 2018

health

Menstruation in India: at the state level (departments of or sand and ash. Either quality stigma. When notions of purity and

health, education and Panchayati commercial products are unafford- pollution get associated with men-
Addressing Health, Hygiene Raj), district and block level (health able or not consistently accessible struation, it leads to further margin-
workers, teachers) and schools. The for women and girls in low-income alisation of an underserved subject.
guidelines aspire to help secure communities. Moreover, there It leads to myths and taboos and
and Stigmas dignity of girls and help them stay are 63 million adolescent girls prevents young girls and women
living in homes without toilets and from realising their full potential.
in school.
Yet in reality the situation thus lack appropriate facilities and Normalising ‘period talk’ has started
remains dismal. According to community support to manage their and will no doubt be impactful in
UNICEF, around 90 per cent of menstruation privately and in a the long run, yet at the moment it
women are unaware of the impor- safe manner. seems limited to urban spaces and
There is need for a shift in the government’s policy discourse in order to prioritise tance of using sanitary napkins, 87 Prioritising menstrual health and social media. To reach vast major-
menstrual health and hygiene for adolescent girls and women and it must be recognised per cent continue to use old pieces of hygiene for women will necessitate ity of rural India, extensive dialogue
cloth as absorbents, with the result a shift in the way women’s health is and campaign to address stigma and
as a major health issue, swati saxena writes being that 79 per cent suffer from perceived in policy discourse. Often, give health and hygiene information
will need to be undertaken. Commu-
nities and local influencers should
Ind I a has are of poor quality, necessitating years, the percentage of out-of- be involved for IEC activities.
started talking either expensive purchases from school children was much higher The good news is that apart from
about menstrua- the market of better quality napkins among girls (10.03 per cent) than government, civil society and NGOs
tion. Padman, a or forcing women to use old rags boys (6.46 per cent). Thus, stigma have also started becoming active
film about low and cloth. The latter is often unsani- and lack of sanitary products to in contributing to this important
cost and acces- tary and causes infections and pain. ease the menstruating girl not subject. For instance, Goonj, an NGO,
sible sanitary This compounds the already re- just impacts her health and well produces napkins from simple, reus-
napkins for all, had various celeb- stricted mobility of rural girls. If the being but also her education in the able pieces of cloth under ‘Not Just a
rities posing with sanitary nap- girl gets her period in school there long run. Piece of Cloth Programme’. Water
kins on social media, normalising is seldom any facility for sanitary In recognition of menstrual Aid India, besides ensuring access
the discourse around it and urg- products or equipped toilets. In health and hygiene as a major to products, provides information
ing to shed the stigma and myths health issue for adolescent girls and about the same and involves mul-
around the same. It is not going to women, the state has been mandat- tiple stakeholders in the dialogue.
be an easy task. This was seen in the Inconvenience ing programmes and guidelines. WASH United India addresses
recent incident of cyber bullying around periods The Ministry of Women and Child hygiene through ‘Menstrual
of a young law student from Kerala Development has been training Hygiene Day’ and ‘The Great WASH
after she posted a poem attacking becomes one anganwadis for generating demand Yatra’. Menstrupedia is a for-profit
taboos around menstruation. of the major of sanitary napkins and aims to enterprise that has aimed to tackle
Stigmas around menstruation make these available in schools awareness by developing a comic
go beyond denying entry to women causes of school and shelter homes. National book adapted to local contexts.
in temples. They pervade their daily absenteeism Adolescent Health On the part of the state, most vital
lives. Women on their periods are Strategy or Rashtriya Kishor will be improving access to free or
often not allowed to enter kitchens, among young girls Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK)) has affordable and good quality sanitary
worship rooms or even step outside included menstrual health and products for all women. This will
their homes. They are not allowed and their eventual education as part of package of • hygiene bar low confidence, 60 per cent miss most women’s health programmes ensure equity and better educa-
to touch certain foods and many of drop out health services to all adolescents. Stigmas around school and 44 per cent feel humili- are centred on their reproductive tional opportunities for them. Pov-
their routine activities are simply Menstrual Hygiene Manage- menstruation ated. According to FSG report, there years – reproduction, childbirth and erty, want of information, and lack of
hampered or barred. ment: National Guidelines (2015) go beyond are over 355 million menstruating subsequent mother and child health access should not impede menstrual
The situation is much worse in fact, inconvenience around periods have been prepared by the Minis- denying entry women and girls in India. How - care. This is also important since in- health and hygiene.
rural India, where apart from stig- becomes one of the major causes try of Drinking Water and Sanita- to women in ever, 71 per cent reported having dicators of maternal health are un-
mas women face the additional of school absenteeism among tion. This document has attempted temples no knowledge of menstruation fortunately poor. However, this can Dr Swati Saxena is a researcher at a
discomfort associated with lack of young girls and their eventual drop to develop a framework for access before their first period and while end up discounting the health needs non-profit. She has a PhD in Public
sanitary products. Low cost sani- out. An FSG report states that the to knowledge and information mothers remain the first source of of the vast majority of adolescent Health from University of London and
tary napkins are supposed to be percentage of out-of-school boys regarding menstrual products. information and support, almost girls and postmenopausal women. a MPhil in Development Studies from
procured from Accredited Social and girls in the age group of 6–10 It also aims to generate societal, 70 per cent of mothers considered The issue of menstruation be- the University of Oxford. The views
Health Activists or ASHAs, but more years was 5.51 per cent and 6.87 familial and community awareness menstruation dirty. Almost 88 per comes even more complicated expressed are her own
often than not, they are unavailable. per cent respectively; however, for and informed and trained support cent of women used home-made since it is not just a health issue, but
Even if they are available, these the adolescent age group of 11–13 for girls. For this it intends to train alternatives such as old cloth, rags an issue shrouded in secrecy and letters@tehelka.com

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