IMPORTANCE OF MENSTRUAL AWARENESS AND
HYGIENE
“Only 12% of India's 355 million menstruating women use sanitary
napkins.
Over 88% of women resort to shocking alternatives like unsanitised cloth, ashes and husk sand.
Incidents of Reproductive Tract Infection (RTI) is 70% more common among these women.”
Over 88% of women resort to shocking alternatives like unsanitised cloth, ashes and husk sand.
Incidents of Reproductive Tract Infection (RTI) is 70% more common among these women.”
Source: Study on
"Sanitary Protection: Every Woman's Health Right", undertaken by AC
Nielsen.
This study shows the
alarming and dismal situation of healthcare for women in our country. In
comparison, 100% women in Singapore and Japan, 88% in Indonesia and 64% in
China use sanitary napkins.
A major reason behind this
kind of a situation in India is the taboo associated with menstruation in our
country that has been carried forward for years now. Contrary to popular
opinion, progress still remains a mere textbook term while talking about
menstruation in public is still considered to be an equivalent to the social
definition of a ‘sin’.
It is quiet unfortunate to
see that even today, a lot of girls graduating from high school (private and
public) are still unaware of the reason behind menstruation, the hygienic
practices to be followed and the importance of vaginal hygiene.
Boys, on the other hand,
are kept away from such information, reinforcing social taboos and practices
that should have been long forgotten.
Even today, women are
still barred from entering temples and kitchens at such times. Some don't even
take a bath during periods.
Not just from the health
point of view, but the social and mental as well as emotional point of view,
such practices need to change.
Unhygienic practices could
also lead to ascending infections -- bacteria entering the urinary tract or
uterus from outside.
There is also proof that inadequate
menstrual protection makes adolescent girls miss 5 days of school in a month
and an average, 23% girls drop out of school after they start menstruating.
Therefore, it becomes extremely important in this day and age that menstruation is treated as the natural body process it is and that the required awareness is spread about the hygienic practices to be followed.
Therefore, it becomes extremely important in this day and age that menstruation is treated as the natural body process it is and that the required awareness is spread about the hygienic practices to be followed.
-Muskan Sethi
Comments
Post a Comment