Dispelling the Menstruation myths

Most of us dread 'those days' of the month. Some have it easy but for many, menstruation causes havoc in their life – having cramps all day long, feeling uneasy, dizzy and nauseous is just a quarter of its perils. You can hate it as much as you want but it is an essential process for every woman and that's why menstrual hygiene and management is necessary to ensure that your everyday life is not interrupted by it. It ensures that you can continue with your daily routine such as going to school, going to work or doing household chores. It can also prevent potential situations of embarrassment and in turn, make you feel confident about yourself and your body.

To raise awareness and break taboos about menstruation, May 28 is looked upon as World Menstrual Hygiene day. Inadequate information and silence over menstruation, especially in developing countries, limits women's and girls' access to important information regarding their bodily process which adversely affects their health, education, rights and dignity.

The day raises awareness of the challenges women and girls worldwide face due to their menstruation and highlights solutions that address these challenges. It brings together non-profits, government agencies, private sector, the media and individuals to promote Menstrual Hygiene Management. World Menstrual Hygiene Day is a big event on the annual calendar. This year, in collaboration with Aakar Social Ventures and Sachhi Saheli, The Lalit Hotel, New Delhi are celebrating the day by organising an event on May 22 as a build up to MH Day 2017.

The event is in the form of a series of panel discussions with a range of stakeholders at The Lalit Hotel, New Delhi between 2-5 pm. A plenary discussion followed by deliberation with stakeholder groups on Menstrual Health Management. This is intended to open a dialogue on menstruation, bringing together a common multi-stakeholder voice for change and finalise key commitments to take forward, on the run up to World Menstrual Hygiene Day.

This engagement aims to highlight MHM barriers and actionable programming or strategic shifts in education, media and at the institutional level, looking at WASH policies including indicators to capture measurable change. The aim of this platform is to bring together key stakeholders from the state and national government, academia, representatives from underserved communities as well as partners from the development sector to engage in constructive and long-lasting policy engagement- bringing people out of their work silos, look at aspects that restrict access to safe health and sanitation practices. The deliberations will explore how civil society, target groups, state governments and passionate individuals can be mobilized to engage in dialogues to ensure access and sustainable solutions for hygiene management and sanitation for all.

Poor menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is connected with several problems that females face and reproductive tract infection (RTI) is one of them. In India, a majority of girls are at risk for RTI which can lead to various disabilities if not treated early on.

With topics such as education - the key to breaking barriers around menstrual health and the role of Media in educating masses around menstrual hygiene, this social dialogue will have participation from over 100 people with an experienced panel of experts.

The audience will consist of young women, aganwadi workers, NGOs, academia, MHM practitioners, medical fraternity etc.

The opening plenary will have eminent people like Manish Sisodia, Dy. CM Delhi and Anshu Gupta, Goonj, President IMA, UNICEF express their views and set the tone. The stakeholder panels will have representation from media, corporates, academia, government and medical fraternity among others. The panel discussion will touch upon some sensitive issues as to how effectively 'Swacch Bharat Abhiyan' is in addressing menstrual hygiene, how the media can responsibly report on the shame/ taboos/ stigma/ insults used around menstruation, what are the key challenges faced when implementing a menstrual health program, the basic rights for women, how can public luminaries make a difference, what are the key challenges faced when implementing a menstrual health program, why is there no systematic review of poor MHM and its impact on women's health and most of all, how can we create a paradigm shift in MHM conversations by focusing not just on the provisioning of MH products but on the larger MHM structure-awareness, disposal, etc.