In a function marking the International Women’s Day and the International Year of Sanitation, young adolescent girls and women from villages of Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh released a guidance booklet developed by UNICEF on menstrual hygiene management and a short film on the same in New Delhi today.

The gathering included Santha Sheela Nair, Secretary, Department of Drinking Water Supply, Gautam Budhha Mukherjee, Secretary, Tribal Welfare, Ann Hasselbalch, Deputy Director, UNICEF, Lizette Burgers, Chief, Water and Sanitation Section and many other officials from the government, other agencies and UNICEF India.

Although menstrual hygiene is an issue that every girl and woman has to deal with in her life, there is lack of information on the process of menstruation, the physical and psychological changes associated with puberty and proper requirements for managing menstruation. The taboos surrounding this issue in the society prevents girls and women from articulating their needs and the problems of poor menstrual hygiene management have been ignored or misunderstood.

Good menstrual hygiene is crucial for the health, education, and dignity of girls and women. This is an important sanitation issue which has long been in the closet and there was a long standing need to openly discuss it.

Delivering her address on the occasion, Santha Sheela Nair said “Being a woman myself, I found that besides every other need, there was also a huge issue of menstrual hygiene and women needed privacy and facilities for dealing with menstrual hygiene”.

Equipping adolescent girls with adequate information and skills on menstrual hygiene and its management is seen as empowering them with knowledge which enhances their self-esteem and academic performance.