Menstrual hygiene campaign launched

With an aim to create awareness about menstrual hygiene with the help of civil society organisations, Department of Women and Child and Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) launched “Menstrual Hygiene Campaign” on Thursday on the occasion of ‘Menstrual Hygiene Day’.

Cabinet minister Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam inaugurated the campaign. 

In this week-long campaign, DCPCR will reach out to east and northeast districts of Delhi will distribute sanitary napkins to women and adolescent girls living in various JJ clusters, the Government said in a statement.

Through this campaign, the focus will be to ensure participation of not just women but also men in this conversation around menstruation and women’s health, it said.

“Awareness regarding menstrual health and hygiene needs to begin at the level of the family. Due to various socio-economic barriers, women especially adolescent girls living in slums and JJ clusters have bare minimum access to clean toilets and sanitation,” Gautam added.

The minister further said that the aim through this campaign is to not only distribute sanitary napkins but to also create awareness among families regarding menstrual hygiene. “We need to get rid of the stigma which is attached to menstruation to have a society where both men and women have equal participation in public life,” he said.

In India, there is a lot of stigma around menstruation. Women are not allowed access to public spaces if they menstruating. In many cases, girls have to drop out of school or women have to quit their job due to lack of clean toilets and sanitation facilities which is essential during menstruation,” it added.