- Menstrual
- Hygiene
Helping break taboos surrounding menstrual hygiene practices and distributing dignity kits amongst Government Schools to increase access to biodegradable sanitary pads. AAN works on awaking the girls on the menstruation cycle and hygiene during those days. It works on #NO SHAME campaign to make the girls understand that it’s not a matter of Shame but a matter of Pride.
The access to sanitary pads has taken a huge hit due to the COVID-19 curbs. Underprivileged women and girls whose families’ survival depended upon daily wages, and who were dependent on government schemes to access sanitary pads were severely affected.
We collaborated with the Block Education Office (BEO), Kashipur to ease this situation by constituting a ‘Dignity Kit’ -a Menstrual Hygiene Kit consisting of biodegradable sanitary napkins, iron & folic acid supplements, laundry soap, bathing soap and detergent – to be distributed free of cost along with a Menstrual Hygiene sensitization session for all the girls and beneficiaries. With the message ‘Periods don’t stop for the pandemic’, we distributed the Dignity Kits to over 3500 beneficiaries. Breaking the taboo over the topic of periods and discussing good nutrition practices have been the center of our mission as we aim to be an ally to empowering women.
In Menstrual Hygiene Management we organize the following programs:
Under this campaign we are sensitizing the women and adolescent girls about the hygienic way of maintaining periods. We have conducted Prioritizing Menstrual Hygiene workshops (interactive awareness sessions on health and hygiene) in Government School of Udham Singh Nagar District in collaboration with the Samagra Shiksha Uttarakhand for the beneficiaries. We distributed the dignity kits (sanitary napkins- Biodegradable, bathing soap, detergent) nicely packaged in a disposable paper bag to promote and support good environment friendly practices. We enhanced hygiene and health practices for girls and women during periods and a better community perception about the taboos related to menstruation and hygiene practices.
Proposed Coverage for July- Dec 2020 is 5000 through government schools in U.S Nagar district which includes 2500 girls in grades 6th to 10th through community outreach 2500 women and guardians.
The access to sanitary napkins has taken a huge hit due to the Covid 19 curbs. Underprivileged Women and girls of daily wagers who were dependent on Government schemes to access sanitary pads are severely affected. Sanitary pads have become scarce and amid lockdown schools which distributed free pads and units which churned out low cost napkins have been unable to do so.
Aan collaborated with the Block Education Office, Kashipur to ease this situation by constituting a Dignity Kit – a Menstrual Hygiene Kit to be distributed free of cost at the time of distribution of Midday Meal dry ration in government schools under the supervision of BEO and District Administration. A brief Menstrual Hygiene sensitization was also conducted for all the beneficiaries. Till date, 2000 Dignity Kits and 2500 face masks have been distributed to schoolgirls from 6th to 12th classes covering 22 rural schools, Guardians (mothers) & lady support staffs of the school were also provided dignity kits. A brief awareness workshop was also conducted at each of the locations promoting COVID-19 awareness, prevention and menstrual hygiene related good practices.
Through our other campaigns we got to know that many women or girls think that menstruation is a matter of shame not a pride. We started this campaign to sensitize the women and adolescent girls that Menstruation is not a matter of Shame it’s a matter of pride.
Under this campaign we sensitized the women about symptoms of anaemia, especially in adolescent girls and importance of a balanced diet and an interactive session on “No Shame in Menstruation” was also conducted, breaking the silence on such topics that are considered a taboo in our society along with the dignity kits (biodegradable sanitary napkins, bathing and washing soap and iron & folic acid supplements). Awareness on sustainable methods of managing menstruation & proper disposal of waste was also imparted in the program.
As part of the FICCI FLO: Empowering the Greater 50% Campaign AAN Charitable Trust launches – “Prioritizing the menstrual Hygiene in Uttarakhand: Break the Taboo ”. This campaign even involves Anganwadi and AASHA workers. Under this campaign, AAN distributes modified dignity kits including undergarment along with the soaps and packet of pads, Iron Folic Acid (IFA) tablets. The target of this campaign is to reach 1,00,000 beneficiaries including Pahadi women & adolescent girls. This campaign would lead to generation of employment for women thereby leading to women empowerment. This campaign includes organizing camps on “Menstrual Hygiene Management” which is essential for a healthy life and organizing health camps to check the hemoglobin levels of women, thereby helping in combating anemia.
