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Menstrual Hygiene Day

Menstrual Hygiene Day is a global advocacy event which will premiere on May 28th. 2014. It was created to publicly recognize the right of women to hygienically manage their menstruation wherever they are. By acknowledging that menstruation is a normal human process and a sign of good health, Menstrual Hygiene Day confronts the stigmas attached to menstruation with collective advocacy, education and action. It serves as a neutral platform bringing together individuals, organizations and the media.

The global awareness day will act as an occasion to address the challenges and hardships many women and girls face during their menstruation, but also to highlight the positive and innovative solutions being taken to address these challenges.

Menstrual Hygiene Day will create an opportunity to engage in policy dialogue and actively advocate for the integration of menstrual hygiene management (MHM) into global and national policies, programs and projects.

Background

Half of the people on the planet are female, most of whom begin their cycles between 9-17 years of age. Menstruation is a normal biological process and a key sign of reproductive health, yet in many cultures it is treated as something negative, shameful or dirty. The continued silence around menstruation combined with limited access to information at home and in schools results in millions of women and girls having very little knowledge about what is happening to their bodies when they menstruate	 and how to deal with it.

A study revealed that 1 out of 3 girls in South Asia knew nothing about menstruation prior to getting it while 48% of girls in Iran and 10% of girls in India believe that menstruation is a disease.

As a result of the above, menstruating girls and women often feel ashamed and embarrassed about themselves, excarbating the silence because they would rather keep it a secret than talk about it. Facing health problems and socio-cultural taboos surrounding their periods, they become isolated from family, school, and their communities. Women and girls miss school and productive work days, thus falling behind their male counterparts.

In addition to persisting taboos, women and girls’ capacity to manage their periods is affected by a number of other factors, including limited access to affordable and hygienic sanitary materials and disposal options leaving many to manage their periods in ineffective, uncomfortable and unhygienic ways. In some contexts, natural materials such as mud, leaves, dung or animal skins are used to manage the menstrual flow.

These problems are further exacerbated by insufficient access to safe and private toilets and lack of clean water and soap for personal hygiene. As a result, menstruating girls and women often feel ashamed and embarrassed.

Idea

In May 2013, WASH United pioneered May #MENSTRAVAGANZA, a 28-day social media campaign cycle dedicated to generating awareness around menstruation and MHM as important considerations within water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) development initiatives. The idea of creating a Menstrual Hygiene Day emerged when we saw how positively the campaign was being received and the momentum it was generating.

Purpose

May 28, 2014 will be the first time the world celebrates Menstrual Hygiene Day. Partners are planning  global and local activities to attract media, garner political attention, or simply to have a celebration in their local communities and in schools to acknowledge the importance of menstrual hygiene.

The Berlin based international social impact organization WASH United is the initiator of a Menstrual Hygiene Day and is currently organizing a diverse alliance of dedicated organizations and individuals to support the day. The list of partners can be seen here

External Links

http://menstrualhygieneday.org http://wash-united-may-menstravaganza.tumblr.com/ http://www.wash-united.org

References

Dasgupta & Sarkar, Menstrual Hygiene: How hygienic is the adolescent girl? 2008 Caruso et al. WASH in Schools Empowers Girls´Education in Freetown, Sierra Leone 2013. Report on rural MHM 2011 UNESCO 2013, Puberty Education and Menstrual Hygiene Management WaterAid 2013, Menstrual Hygiene Matters US National Library of Medicine, NIH, 2014