Lack of Awareness about Menstrual Hygiene

In India where a natural biological process like menstruation is a taboo and is looked down upon by both men and women it’s natural for girls and women to lack knowledge about sanitation measures to be taken during menstruation.

 

Menstruation or period is the monthly cycle where blood and mucosal is discharged from the inner lining of uterus through the vagina. It marks the beginning of puberty and adulthood for a girl. With bodily changes comes changes in their lifestyle and attitude of others. Many restrictions, taboos and stereotypes are put upon them due to which most if not all feel that menstruation is something evil and makes them impure.

 

First, let’s try and understand what is meant by menstrual hygiene and why is it important:

 

Menstrual hygiene management or MHM is a vital step often not practiced by many women. A woman is very vulnerable during menses to a number of diseases due to the lack of sanitation being maintained. This makes it important to stress upon MHM.

 

What important steps should be taken to practice MHM?

1)            Take bath and clean yourself regularly

2)            Use sanitary napkins or clean homemade pads.

3)            Change sanitary napkins or homemade pads after every 4-5 hours as per the requirement.

4)            Dispose of the used napkins properly.

5)            Do not throw the used napkins in the drainpipe of the toilets or in the open area.

6)            After handling the napkin wash hands with soap.

 

These few measures look very basic, easy and doable to me and you but not everyone follows them. They either lack awareness or resources. 62% women in India still use cloth during menses.

 Using cloth or maintaining low sanitation can lead to a lot of health problems and can be one of the cause to some diseases in women.

                                                      

 

Poor MHM can cause:

Most common issues are:

1)            Dermatitis: can be caused due to lack of proper MHM. It can be caused because of increase in fungal or bacterial growth. It causes itching, rashes, swelling, blisters etc. which can causes pain and discomfort.

2)            Skin tags: friction from using cloth can cause skin tags which cause irritation and skin disease. Skin tags can also be caused by STDs.

3)            Urinary Tract Infections (UTI): Harmful bacteria can enter the Urinary tract and cause serious infection and damage the vagina. If left untreated it can cause complications.

4)            Pelvic Disease: A woman can get PID if bacteria move up from her vagina or cervix and into her reproductive organs.

5)            Change in vaginal PH balance: it can cause infections in the reproductive tract Bacteria can enter the bloodstream and cause infertility in severe cases.

6) Increases the risk of cervical cancer: It is the most common type of cancer from which Indian women suffer.

7) STDs (Sexually Transmitted Disease) like Hepatitis B can be transmitted from menstrual fluids.

 

Now let’s try to understand what the obstacles that women face in following MHM are:

These are some of the multiple factors which can affect their lack of sanitation practices.

 

Illiteracy/Lack of scientific knowledge:

 

Most of the girls aren’t aware about the process until they receive menarche themselves or hear it from their friends or learn about it from their schools. Mostly girls get to know about menstruation from their women family members or peers who themselves hold less knowledge about it. They pass on their limited knowledge which is not always correct with myths and taboos that have been running generation upon generation.

 

Socio-Cultural Restrictions:

 

The cultural and social restrictions to talk freely and without shame about menstruation within the families makes menarche a traumatic experience for many girls. They’re not aware about why there is suddenly blood flowing through their vaginas and it creates panic and trauma. Even after they learn about it from their mothers, sisters, aunts, friends they’re told to keep it a secret and of course men should never know about it as it would be a matter of shame! This restricts girls from talking or sharing the issues regarding their own bodies and bodily needs.

The myths and taboos add on to it. Each girl must’ve heard these commons ones.

I’d like to list a few here and I’m sure you’d already be knowing them:

 

1)            Eating pickle causes heavy blood flow.

2)            Don’t visit religious places or attend any religious activities as we’ll make the holy places unholy since we are impure during those 5 days.

3)            Don’t touch certain food because your touch would make it impure.

4)            Wash your head after the cycle is over to purify yourself.

5)            You need to have different utensils, room with a separate bed and bed sheet so others don’t feel bad.

6)            Don’t enter the kitchen or cook food.

7)            Since you become unhygienic you need to maintain a distance from other humans.

 

These baseless regressive restrictions add on to the already miserable conditions of women under the patriarchal society that we have in India.

 

 

Education:

 

After family and neighbourhood school is the most important institution which can teach the children specially girls about menstruation. Many schools still don't emphasis on menstrual/reproductive or sex education, they do not teach or conduct necessary workshops to educate girls about menstruation and reproductive health. Schools play a vital role in one's life. One is expected to learn and unlearn whatever is taught in the society in schools. But even today many girls take leave during menses or completely dropout of school. Dropping out of school is mainly because of dysmenorrhea; cramps or pain, heavy flow experienced during menses. Lack of clean toilets, water supply and sanitation is also one of the reasons. In rural Ares where schools are at a great distance from home for most of the girls it becomes difficult for them to travel for hours in public transport because of cramps and discomfort.

 

Economic conditions:

 

WASH (water sanitation and hygiene) is the basic necessity to perform MHM. When we say hygiene needs to be maintained. You need to take regular baths, change sanitary pads, use soap after handling pads and properly dispose the pads after use. They have to dispose the used cloths or pads in open spaces, drainpipes, etc. We forget that so many women lack these facilities and ask the government to provide free pads, make pads a non-luxury item but we forget about the regular water supply, the very basic thing needed for sanitation!

Even today not all homes in India have toilets.

The conditions of public toilets are not at all favourable either because of which women have a hard time trying to find privacy to keep hygiene. Women who use cloths find it hard to wash and reuse them. Sometimes when water resources are available far away from their homes they try hard not to be seen by men while cleaning the cloth as it makes them feel embarrassed. In some places where there are social constraints to use public water resources like wells it becomes even harder to wash and dry cloths to reuse.

The policymakers need to recognise these factors so as to make better policies in favour of these women who don't have proper resources. We need to make sure:

1) There’s constant water supply,

2) Soap, sanitary napkins are available to them,

3) Public toilets should be cleaned and sanitized on a regular basis,

4) All public toilets should have pads available.

 

Apart from sanitation proper intake of nutrition is also very important during menses. Fatter intake is required during menses. If the woman doesn't get proper nutrients the metabolism could get altered which can cause amenorrhea.                                                                                                                Also, Women need more energy intake so energy giving food should be increased.Most of Indian women are iron deficient which can cause short period Cycle with heavy blood flow. Iron deficiency requirements increase during pregnancy and as Indian women are already deficient it can further cause complications in pregnancy. Therefore proper food intake is very important during menses but as we know not every can afford it many women have to suffer from the above problems.

 

 Many NGOs have been working to increase and make more and more women aware about MHM. They've been working to provide women with information and resources but there has been consistency which doesn't result in much success. Women should also be encouraged to make pads at home for cheap. The government and policymakers need to acknowledge and stress upon the issue and make it a top concern.

Women need to realize the dangers of lack of menstrual hygiene. They need to stop believing in those myths and taboos. We should be the masters of our own bodies. Menstruation is natural not impure, it's important for human existence. It's time we talk freely about our issues without shying away and keep them private no more. It's time to collectively educate and change things for the ones who've been side-lined for a great amount of time now.