MENSTRUATION: NOT ONLY A HEALTH ISSUE, BUT A HUMAN RIGHT DUTY

 

MENSTRUATION: NOT ONLY A HEALTH ISSUE, BUT A HUMAN RIGHT DUTY

- Carlotta Pagan

 

What better day than May 28 to break taboos? On this date, Menstrual Hygiene Day is celebrated, an occasion that began initially as a social media awareness campaign by a german non-profit organization and some social entrepreneurs with an attempt to make their message of peace go viral and ended up becoming one of the most important fulcrums for menstrual hygiene management awareness worldwide today.

 

 

Picture 1: School girls holding motivationalmotposterssaying “There are lot more to shame than periods” and “Menstruation is my power and pride”  for the Menstrual Hygiene Day event

 

Celebrated with street demonstrations, eccentric outfits, and bursts of color, it is an important reminder of how important it actually is for women around the world to be assured of functioning toilets, proper privacy, and the correct hygienic means to contain menstrual flow, and to realize how far we still have to go, in many countries, to achieve this basic rights.

 

The street demonstrations are often followed by public speeches, performances, art exhibitions, and movie screenings, all of which demonstrates how unity among people can be strength for a real change and those who can contribute with a small amount, are always welcome.

 

The choice of this date is certainly no coincidence: the month of May, the fifth month of the year, was chosen to represent the normal average length of menstruation, while the 28th of the month was thought to indicate the average length of a menstrual cycle.

 

 

Picture 2:Painting on newspaper sheet depicting menstrual pain and cramps in women without access to primary health care services made by Kurdish activist Zehra Dogan, Santa Giulia Museum, Brescia, Italy

 

As the posters for the 2023 occasion announce, the aim for this year is to“Build a world where no one is held back because they menstruate, by 2030”. A hope, perhaps, rather than a goal, if we consider the conditions in which most South-East Asian countries still find themselves today.

It is a dramatic situation. Another placard, which a young activist waves in her hands amid thousands of protesters in a Pakistan city, says “solidarity is needed”.

And it is true. Action is needed,as soon as possible, and above all, everyone's contribution is necessary. These are countries where there is a shortage of water, where primary resources are accessible to few, and where there are no adequate educational plans: most adolescent girls experience severe physical and psychological conditions during their menstrual cycle, triggered by premenstrual syndrome and other symptoms, and many of them, feeling uncomfortable compared to their male classmates due to lack of access to adequate infrastructure, are forced to drop out of school in a very early age.

In India, many taboos and popular beliefs related to the menstrual cycle and its alleged impurity do not give due vent to an unmanageable situation and they do not do justice to all efforts made for a healthy awareness. This makes not possible to celebrate such an important day, so animatedly, for the people.

 

 

Picture 3: Indian activist holding a picket sign against shortage of hygiene products and facilities in Kolkata, Indiaduring 2019 Menstrual Hygiene Day Celebration

 

 

 

 

The aim for the Menstrual Hygiene Day remains the same and there is a wide agreement on what people need for good menstrual health: safe private spaces where to change often sanitary products, good facilities with access to running water to wash themselves and clean their hands as well as appropriate garbage bins where to throw sanitary pads and materials once used.

The purpose is also to ensure that schools and public places will be capable to guarantee those services, so that adolescent girls will be more likely to attend classes during their menstrual period with more comfort and dignity and with less worries.

During Menstrual Hygiene Day, many global and national development polices also take action to provide investments, in order to prioritize menstrual health and, so, to eliminate period poverty, that is, a condition in which low-income women struggle to get hygienical products as well as a fair access to running sanitized water and sanitation services.

 

 

Picture 4: A school with no water and toilets in Delhi, India, 2016

 

Considering that menstruation is a physiological process and that menstrual health is a basic and fundamental right which deals with the ability for women and girls to take care of their body in autonomy, comfort and dignity, we at HEEALS can do nothing but fully support this day and the efforts of all the people who mobilizee very year to build a self-sustainable society, as well as express our immense gratitude to them, as we believe that even the smallest effort can ultimately bring about great change

In the meanwhile, we continue to strive for reach the people from marginalized communities and women in need through education and through the donation of dignity kits containing essential products, as hand- cleaning soaps, hygienical and sanitary products products and supplies.

Email : communciations@heeals.org

Whatss app : +91-7982316660