Menstrual Hygiene Day
- Alexza Zaragoza & Neha Thomas
- May 28, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 9
Menstrual Hygiene Day serves as a global uniting of nonprofits, governments, individuals, businesses, and the media to promote menstrual health, hygiene, and access.
Good menstrual health and hygiene entails access to:
quality menstrual products
period education
period-friendly sanitation facilities that support changing menstrual materials and maintaining personal hygiene, such a hand and body washing, with privacy and security
Primary aims of MH Day:
Destigmatize menstrual health and hygiene by raising awareness and breaking negative social norms
Urges leaders at national and local levels to prioritize and act on menstrual health and hygiene
Today’s obstacles:
In many places menstruation is viewed as unclean, shameful, and impure, and girls group up thinking they need to keep their menstruation a secret
Women don’t participate in normal activities during menstruation, for example in Chad and Central African Republic, more than 30% of women and girls did not participate in school, work, and/or social activities during menstruation periods
Many graphs with data that highlight the negative impacts of lack of menstrual hygiene products on women around the world here
Importance of accessible menstrual products:
Poor hygiene management can lead to health risks including urinary or reproductive tract infections
Menstruation is a natural and unavoidable part of the lives of women everywhere and accommodating menstrual is a basic human right
Lack of access to toilets, water, and menstrual products during menstruation is detrimental to a women’s life experience and prevents them from reaching their full potential
Example: many girls are unable to manage their menstruation in school due to schools not maintaining their sanitation facilities, thus forcing them to drop out entirely; this also applies to the workplace, exacerbating economic and social inequalities
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