Exclusive health camp organised to mark May 28 as Menstrual Hygiene Management Day 2019

Coimbatore: Menstrual Hygiene Day is being celebrated across the world on May 28 in a bid to break the silence around menstruation, help break myths and taboos around periods, help girls and women seek information and advice on menstrual health and menstrual hygiene management. 

An exclusive health camp was organized for ladies of Vivekanandhapuram and Balavinayagar Nagar slums in Periyanaiackenpalayam and Narasimhanaickenpalayam. “It was an ideal situation to share issues personally to the doctor and get detailed consultations,” opined Lalitha from Vivekanandhapuram. 

A normal woman spends anywhere between 2500 to 2700 days of her life menstruating which is anywhere between 6 to 7 years of her life. This simple fact of her existence is shrouded in secrecy, with a cloud of mystery surrounding it. "Good Girls don’t talk about such things. Hush!" is the general sentiment in Indian society. As a result of this taboo, the importance of menstrual hygiene has been wholly neglected. When menstruation is a taboo subject, any discussion around it becomes difficult.

According to a study from UNICEF, 1 out of 3 girls in South Asia knew nothing about menstruation before getting her period, while 48% of girls in Iran and 10% of girls in India believe that menstruation is a disease (WaterAid 2013, Menstrual Hygiene Matters). In 2014, initiated by WASH United, Menstrual Hygiene Day (MH Day) was observed all over the world on May 28. MH Day is an attempt to raise awareness on the challenges faced by women and girls worldwide due to the simple fact that they menstruate and highlight solutions that address these challenges. The day was created to publicly recognize the right of women to manage their menstruation, wherever they are, hygienically.

In line with the same, Keystone Foundation, the City Technical Support unit of the Tamil Nadu Sanitation Urban Sanitation Support Programme (TNUSSP) had organized private counselling and health camp for ladies and adolescent girls of the slums in Periyanaickenpalayam and Narasimhanaickenpalayam on May 27, 2019. The camp was supported by the Karpagam Trust Hospital. A team of doctors headed by Dr. Naveen Prabhu (chief doctor) at Karpagam Trust Hospital conducted the special medical counselling.

Dr. Swathandra Devi started with a special message on Menstrual Hygiene Day with adolescent girls and women from the community. A total of 100 women from two communities benefited from the special health camp. Some of the essential queries were on occurrences of irregular periods among adolescent girls and young women. Dr. Swathandra Devi, gynecologist and obstetrician responded to the pressing concerns on reproductive health and various ailments commonly faced by women. The importance of a balanced diet which includes multivitamin and iron enriching food were emphasized.

Suganthi from Balavinayagar Nagar said that she had a detailed consultation with a doctor who prescribed free follow-up treatment at the hospital as well as making use of this service at her doorstep. Apart from addressing issues on Menstrual Hygiene and well-being, special consultations were arranged for pregnant women from the communities. The medical support and facilities available for the community members at the Karpagam Trust Hospital were also shared. Specific health care option available at the Karpagam Trust Hospital without any cost was highlighted to those who could not afford prenatal and antenatal care was shared. Apart from the majority of women from the community, the exclusive medical camp extended to some of the medical checks up to ailing senior citizens and elderly from the community, as well.

In many societies, women are prohibited from participating in a healthy life while menstruating. A woman must be “purified” before she is allowed to return to her family and perform the day-to-day chores of her life. Many girls and women are subject to restrictions in their daily lives, simply because they are menstruating. These could be religious and social restrictions like not being allowed to enter a place of worship or participate in a communal celebration like festivals or weddings etc. With such archaic beliefs around us, the city TSU wished to throw light on what the people of Coimbatore have to say about taboos, myths and their understanding of menstruation. It was done through a public opinion video among men and women around the city. A different lens of opinion among the public was obtained. The video is named Period talks @ Kovai. Adolescent girls are also led to believe that doing exercise/physical activity during menses aggravates the dysmenorrhea. But, according to a gym instructor Prem, all these are myths and with proper guided exercises the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome, dysmenorrhea and bloating can be relieved.

These myths and taboos have an adverse impact on the emotional and psychological state of girls, their mentality, lifestyle and most importantly their health. It is a well-known fact that girls in poorer countries drop out of school when they begin menstruating due to the lack of clean and safe sanitation facilities. In India, this accounts for 1 in 5 girls who drop out of school on the onset of menarche. Shanthi, a common lady in the opinion poll stated that it is necessary to educate sanitary napkin users to burn out or wrap used sanitary napkins properly while disposing since sanitary workers who handle the waste are also human beings. 

• An average woman throws away nearly 50,000 sanitary pads in her lifetime.

• The soiled napkins stay in the landfills for about 800 years as they are non-biodegradable.

• It is estimated that 432 million pads are disposed of every month across the country, according to a report cited in the Clean India Journal.

• More than 80 per cent of this waste is either flushed down the toilet or ends up in a landfill.

• The disposal of sanitary waste in India is a complex issue. The fact that it remains a mostly taboo topic and carries much social stigma only adds to its complexity and makes it difficult to find effective solutions.

“Periods are nothing to be shy of or talk about. It is more important to support women and girls at home to boost up their confidence during menstruation,” opines Ganesh from Coimbatore. Such opinions are a glimpse of hope that our Indian society could well be on a progressive path.