Menstrual health matters: Why menstrual hygiene must be a right, not a privilege

What Every Girl Deserves: Safe, Clean, and Shame-Free Periods

In today’s world, the taboo surrounding menstruation is not just a women’s issue but has transformed as a major public health issue. Despite being a natural bodily function, instead of receiving the required basic tools for effective management and hygiene, menstruation is still surrounded with social stigma and become ‘not-to talk about’ a topic.


Menstrual Hygiene Day serves both as a reminder and a call to action for something that is natural and a routine – Menstruation. It is startling to see how menstruation is still surrounded with so much silence, stigma and misinformation, that many girls and women have suffered in silence both physically and emotionally, just because of lack of support and right information surrounding periods.


Menstrual hygiene has come way long far than just the use of sanitary pads or other products, and now raises the need for ensuring safe materials, access to cleanliness, availability of private and hygienic place to change and safe disposal, and at last, having the correct knowledge on how to care for one’s body during these times.


However, many girls and women, especially in the rural and low-income settings, are still deprived of these basic needs and knowledge. It has been witnessed that in such settings where school going girls do not have access to hygienic products of washrooms in schools, often tend to skip schools on these particular days or even drop out altogether. Poor menstrual hygiene is also responsible for infections like UTI or RTI, skin issues etc. But going beyond these physical traumas, the silent emotional toll of embarrassment, shame and isolation also severely impacts their confidence and self-esteem.


Apart from the mental strain and emotional trauma, some of the most common complications associated with poor menstrual hygiene include –


1. UTI’s and infections – If the sanitary pads are not clean or changed timely, this leads to multiplication of bacteria rapidly leading to painful infections, and in some cases lead to long term reproductive health complications.
2. Risk of rashes and Skin irritation – Prolonged wearing of same pad or using inappropriate material can lead to itching, fungal infections or even rashes.
3. Elevated risk of HPV infections – Repetitive infections can lead to chronic inflammation, developing a vulnerable environment for more serious complications, especially in the cervix. This can raise the risk of developing HPV infection.


Basic but Essential tips to maintain Good Menstrual Hygiene


Maintaining good menstrual hygiene, need not be complicated or expensive, but following the below mentioned basic tips will work –


1. Cleanliness and comfort - Choose the best suited sanitary product, which is clean and comfortable, be it sanitary pads, tampons, menstrual cup or even reusable cloth pad.
2. Change Frequently - As the thumb rule says, it is advisable to change every 4-6 hours or sooner if required.
3. Wash with clean water – During every change, warm water is usually enough to clean the area, and avoid using any harsh soaps or intimate washes.
4. Sensible Disposal – before discarding the used pads, wrap it in paper, or if one is using reusable cloth pads, then it is advised to wash the cloth properly and dry it in sunlight before next use.
These might seem like small steps, but together they can prevent a range of problems and make a huge difference to overall well-being.


Everything Starts at Home!


Even today, in many homes, menstruation is still a stigma, considered a quiet topic, which is often perceived by daughters in whispers with misinformation, being too late, frightening or confusing. Ans in some parts of our country girls are still considered as impure during their menses, and not allowed to cook, go to temples, or even sit at common places in house. All this need to change.


Mothers should be responsible to make their daughters feel comfortable to talk about their first period(menarche), and the school education should also include boys on this topic. The more we normalize it, the less stigma there will be.

(Dr. Mannan Gupta, Chairperson & HOD, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Elantis Healthcare, New Delhi)