Importance of menstrual health
Awareness about menstrual health is important for the well-being of women and it is not only limited to access to sanitary pads and hygienic washrooms. Though these factors play a vital role, it is also important that we build an appropriate environment that understands and values menstrual health with dignity- an environment where women can talk and share their problems, needs, requirements for menstruation more openly.
It is said, in India, only 1 in every two girls knows about menstruation before their first period. To spread awareness and knowledge about good menstrual health management, various programs have been initiated by NGOs.
NGOs
Some of the NGOs that have initiated to provide safe and accessible menstrual health are-
- Myna Mahila Foundation– They run a “Sponsor-a-Girl” Program in which they identify girls who cannot afford menstrual products and provide them with knowledge and hygienic menstrual products. They also organize various sessions and health camps to spread awareness about good health in menstruation and discussions including stigmas related to menstruation.
- Sachhi Saheli– Their main aim is to make a world free of taboos and stigmas and work on making the environment a better place for girls. This NGO has started various projects to spread awareness about menstrual health like they launched a program UMANG in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu in collaboration with the Directorate of Med and many more like projects Jagriti. On February 5, every year Sachhi Saheli foundation celebrates menstrual health and awareness day.
- Goonj– The goal of this organization is to address the gap between menstrual hygiene and management. They motivate urban masses to contribute cloth for making ‘MY Pads’ cloth sanitary pads for women who struggle for such basic necessities. They channelize unused material lying idle in urban homes like clothes, household items, stationery, old newspapers, one side used paper, furniture, bedding, medicines, dry ration, blankets, etc. as an important development resource.
- Giveher5 – This NGO uses donations to provide safe sanitary solutions to women in rural areas across India. They also organize informative workshops to create awareness among people and perform critical research to ensure that women have equal opportunity to attend school and work making sure no sort of discrimination is taking place. Many women in India are unable to afford sanitary protection and are thus forced to miss 5 days of either school or work every month- this organization works to give them ‘those’ 5 days back.
Sachkhand foundation– The foundation has also initiated a project “Hifazat” to interact with the menstruators and educate and make them aware of menstruation and menstrual hygiene. The foundation also provides free-of-cost biodegradable sanitary pads to the menstruators who need them to decrease the growth rate of cervical cancer.
