Periods and Pandemic : How the world is dealing with it?

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#MondayMenstruation

Lockdown due to coronavirus all over India has made it difficult to fulfill the basic hygiene requirements! In India, the extension of lockdown had a severe impact on the accessibility to these hygiene products. Due to this reason, it is getting difficult for women to sustain their hygiene in secrecy and dignity.

How exactly is the government resolving this situation??

The government of India, consisting of both central and states, along with several NGO’s is trying their level best to create awareness about the importance of maintaining menstrual hygiene. They have also tried imparting some safe practices, especially among adolescent girls who need to let about these practices to avoid unfortunate diseases. It is important to teach these safe hygiene practices into young girls to help them for getting afflicted with disastrous diseases caused due to poor menstrual hygiene.

Owing to the efforts made by the government, many subsidies got enacted regarding free supply to sanitary napkins to the girls living in rural areas or to those who cannot afford these napkins. The government has tried to

Low-cost variants have been efficiently made available through local production
Free distribution
subsidized prices.

The government is seeing its efforts ripe as a fruit for the past few decades. Women all over India have started accepting and using more hygienic and safe practices.

But due to the lockdown and high price rise in some areas, women have been necessarily forced to adopt their old ways of dealing with menstruation. Due to unavailability and access to the hygiene maintaining products, girls are adopting various Orthodox methods:

Same menstrual napkin used for a prolonged duration.
Using old clothes and rags instead of napkins

What about using the Reusable sanitary napkins?

Due to unhygienic conditions, women develop urinary tract infections. The scarcity of water also has eliminated the usage of reusable napkins. These napkins need to be thoroughly washed and dried before second use. The scarcity of water is not the only obstruction in the usage of reusable napkins but also plays a key role in the cleaning process. This problem often doesn’t allow women to clean and sanitizer themselves as often as they should.

In normal conditions, when women have RTIs, they would avoid going to doctors in rural areas. With other health assistance halted and the health workers engaged in the ongoing pandemic response actions, RTI symptoms resulting from poor menstrual hygiene go unaddressed. Hence, some actions should take place to give these women access to hygiene essentials.

How to resolve the hygiene crisis?

Following steps can help the women suffering from such conditions:

Necessary ease can be easily laid on essential menstrual products through the public and private sectors. Large-scale producers of sanitary napkins should facilitate the supply to local shops and medical stores. They can also facilitate the supply across various states.
The manufacturers can ensure that commercial prices are well within MRP. The girls and women who are incapable of accessing the disposable sanitary pads have initiated making homemade pads at home. This, in a way, is critical if they don’t follow the correct procedure to make it! There are a number of organizations like Jatan Sansthan who give guidelines to pads at home under hygienic conditions.
Quarantine facilities should have isolated facilities, especially for women. They must provide underwear and sanitary napkins to the females.

In times of such catastrophe, often compromises with hygiene and the health of women is recklessly made. These compromises can lead to uncertain diseases leading to even her death! Thus it becomes important to take some actions for a woman’s dignity and rights.

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What is menstrual hygiene?

While the concept of menstrual hygiene relates to proper care and accessibility to menstrual products, including the feasibility to use toilets, it is not limited to this arena only. Menstrual hygiene is about ensuring an environment that values and supports menstruation with dignity and not viewing it through the lens of taboos. This is a component extremely crucial for empowerment and well-being to someone menstruating. Maintaining proper menstrual hygiene prevents the risk of reproductive and urinary tract infections.

According to UNICEF, “every month, 1.8 billion people across the world menstruate. The onset of menstruation means a new phase – and new vulnerabilities – in the lives of adolescents. Yet, many adolescent girls face stigma, harassment and social exclusion during menstruation. Transgender men and non-binary persons also face discrimination due to their gender identity, depriving them of access to the materials and facilities they need. Gender inequality, discriminatory social norms, cultural taboos, poverty and lack of basic services like toilets and sanitary products can all cause menstrual health and hygiene need to go unmet.”

Why menstrual hygiene is important?

Menstruation is a common physiological process, beginning with first menstrual bleeding majorly between the ages of 9 to 16, called menarche. People who menstruate undergo this process on a regular basis but are still not adequately informed about the need to ensure proper menstrual hygiene. Menstrual hygiene is extremely important for the health of menstruators. Improving and educating them about the need for menstrual hygiene starting from adolescents can help transform the existing misconceptions and myths. It is also important for personal comfort and increased mobility. It also reduces the likelihood of infections occurring because of poor menstrual practices.

Poor menstrual health not only affects the urinary or reproductive tract but gives rise to many other fungal and bacterial infections. It also makes menstruators vulnerable to medical conditions affecting skin like dermatitis in which skin turns red and swells and in severe conditions appearance of blisters may occur. In more severe conditions, it is also susceptible to cause cervical cancers.

Accessibility to menstrual hygiene in India

In India, according to the reports of the world bank, over 60% of the total population lives in the rural sector, which includes a high number of women lacking knowledge about menstrual hygiene. In addition, associated taboos and restrictions with regard to the social culture results in not giving much importance to the menstrual hygienic health practices, which leads to adverse health outcomes. The surrounding misconceptions and practices about the process as unclean or dirty in society are still very much prevalent. The way in which a menstruator learns about menarche and the associated changes impact their understanding and intuitive response due to lack or erroneous education about menstrual health and hygiene.

Limited or no access to menstrual products in India, especially in rural areas, has resulted in major health problems. Most menstruators in rural sectors use rags and clothes during menstruation, which makes them vulnerable to reproductive tract infections due to the growth of bacteria or fungus. Continuous use of sanitary napkins after washing and drying is not feasible due to water scarcity and taboos around menstruation.

Notably, there has been significant development in the health sector, but women are still conditioned due to social and economic barriers. In India, many menstruators use unsafe methods during menstruation, such as cloth or make-do pads stuffed with ash, husk and even sand. Not using hygienic products can cause a variety of health problems, including reproductive and urinary tract infections. Though there has been a drastic improvement during recent times about menstrual hygiene, the rural-urban gap still requires manifold improvements.

Health risks of poor menstrual hygiene

Poor and lack of menstrual health not only affects physical health but one’s mental health too. An accurate and clear understanding of period hygiene and how it affects the health and the proper management are crucial to maintain. Reproductive tract infection is closely interlinked with menstrual hygiene and is nothing less than a silent pandemic affecting women’s health.

According to research by NCBI, Government of India, “Lack of privacy is an important problem. In resource-poor contexts, where women do not have access to basic facilities such as water, bathroom and privacy, the standard of hygiene one can maintain is severely compromised. There is a need to improve the housing conditions with respect to basic facilities. Universalized use of sanitary pads can be advocated to every girl only by making it available at affordable prices (social marketing).”

How to ensure menstrual hygiene?

Look at these snapshots to maintain good menstrual hygiene during your menstruation:

1. Always use clean and avoid reused pads/ tampons.

Use clean sanitary pads and tampons and do not reuse them. Reusing unclean menstrual products would lead to a high risk of reproductive and urinary infections and major health concerns.

2. Do not use a pad / tampon for over four hours

Wearing pads or tampons for over four hours a day should strictly be avoided and not practiced as it leads to growth for bacteria.

3. Rinse properly

It is advisable to wash your genital area at least twice a day after you remove your sanitary pad or tampon. During the menstrual cycle, blood creates a favorable environment for bacteria. Therefore, it should be cleaned but not too frequently and thoroughly, as it may affect the pH balance.

4.Track your period regularly

The menstrual cycle is an important indicator of your health and should not be ignored. Download the Infano app to track your periods here.

Globally, millions of women suffer health risks because of a lack of adequate facilities for menstrual hygiene management. Menstrual hygiene needs to be maintained and a sufficient supply of clean water, availability of affordable sanitary products are necessary. Hygiene-related practices and considerable importance can prevent young menstruators from several venereal diseases. It is also important that environmental aspects should be taken into consideration while discarding sanitary products properly after used to avoid the spread of infections.