Nexus of Good: Essential relief

Women, who are already a vulnerable section of society, have always been impacted the most in the case of infectious disease outbreaks. COVID-19 has also been harder on women than on any other section of society. For women, personal hygiene includes menstrual hygiene as well. The ongoing pandemic has had a huge impact on the menstruating population. Lockdowns, movement restrictions, limited health facilities, closure of schools and colleges have affected access to sexual and reproductive health services along with the availability of proper menstrual products. This, in turn, has adversely impacted the physical and mental health of those who menstruate.

In these times, when the country was going through the greatest humanitarian crisis, Aman Preet, an Indian Revenue Service Officer, along with the help of her family, friends, several civil servants, individuals, volunteers, NGO's, trusts, foundations, entrepreneurs has reached out in 17 Indian states. These volunteers have supplied safe menstrual products to needy and underprivileged women. The drive was started by Sangini Saheli Trust, founded during COVID-19 by Aman Preet's fashion designer friend, Priyal Bhardwaj, who is the wife of Ashish Tripathi —another Indian Revenue Service officer. The problem came to their notice through a piece of small news in a local newspaper which mentioned that as schools and colleges have been closed, the subsidised or free supply of sanitary pads has also been stopped. Female students had written to the administration for help. Many social organisations and individuals came forward to provide assistance to the poor and the vulnerable sections of society for rations, masks and sanitisers but no one had thought about distributing pads. Shortage of supply and the hike in rates was the major problem during the lockdown. While arranging the supplies, there were many chemist shops in parts of the country where not a single packet of sanitary pad was available. When Sangini Saheli provided pads to the construction workers at Lady Hardinge College with the help of a couple of Indian Police Service officers, Eish Singhal and Pragya Anand, these women workers were informed that on account of a shortage of supply, they had to resort to their old ways of using clothes. With the help of Akansha Singh, wife of another police officer, the distribution of hygiene kits containing sanitary pads was done in several slums and rural pockets of Gautambuddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh. These beneficiaries also conveyed that they had made cloth pads of their old petticoats and used ash for soaking blood. Many of these women were first time users of sanitary pads.

As a part of an initial response towards the fight against COVID-19 and making a difference in the lives of the migrant women workers who were travelling back from bus stops and railway stations, pads were provided to them. This small step taken initially has now become a Pan-India initiative. The crusade has provided over 12.5 lakh packets of sanitary pads in over 17 states of India.

Sangini Saheli is providing relief supplies of sanitary pads and NGO Ek Prayas is arranging other hygiene essentials for the patients and volunteers fighting with COVID-19 at the world's largest COVID Care facility — Sardar Patel COVID Centre, Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Chattarpur. More than 2,000 patients have benefitted from this facility.

In Punjab, PK Sinha, Additional Director General of Police supported the initiative and facilitated the timely distribution of menstrual products in all the 14 Punjab prisons where women inmates were stationed. Similarly, Madhur Verma, another police officer posted in Arunachal Pradesh, helped distribute in all 20 Police Stations. Meerut jail and Tihar jail were also provided with such supplies. In Assam, Rocktim Saikia and his wife Dr Pallavi, along with other officers, supplied sanitary pads in Sarusajai Quarantine Centre, Guwahati. Several shelter homes, ashrams, observatory homes, kushth ashrams, homes for specially-abled women and girls have been sent supplies of sanitary napkins during the lockdown.

This journey was full of challenges. Some people refused to distribute pads saying, "yeh gandi cheez hai, hum nahin baant sakte". They refused to take ration if sanitary napkins were given along with it. Some women even remarked that they need to take permission from their husbands and in-laws to buy pads.

When a massive fire broke out in the slums of South-East Delhi's Tughlaqabad area on May 25, 2020, Kamal Preet, along with her husband Dikshit Passy, went there to provide residents with the relief supplies of pads provided by Rotary Club of Delhi Metro. They were informed that around 1,500 shanties were burnt, leaving hundreds of people homeless. With the support of Rajendra Prasad Meena, DCP, South-East Delhi, around 500 packets of sanitary napkins were distributed.

In one of the villages in Sangrur where Gagan Kundra Thori, another Revenue Service officer, who was tirelessly creating awareness on menstrual hygiene, was told that women are prohibited from touching cows when they are menstruating. When asked about the reason they said, "cow will become infertile". The mere mention of 'periods' or menstrual cycle was considered taboo.

Even though policymakers have declared sanitary napkins as an essential commodity in the country, its accessibility and reach is considered a luxury. Further, taboos and myths associated with menstruation make it difficult for the people still stuck in old age customs and traditions to talk about it openly. These taboos, lack of awareness, and restrictions force women to overlook their health & hygiene. They are forced to use unhygienic methods to cope with menstruation using old cloth and rags which are not only extremely unhealthy but denote a lack of dignity within a society that advocates equality in the 21st century. It is, therefore, extremely important to understand the issue of menstrual hygiene and women's healthcare and how important it is for such women to have easy access to menstrual products. There have been commendable steps taken in the right direction by the government, and supported by volunteers. But a lot more needs to be done, especially in the context of changing the mindset.

The initiative taken by Aman Preet and her team of volunteers has demonstrated that good work can not only be done but can be scaled by taking other stakeholders into confidence. They epitomise the essence of the Nexus of Good.

Views expressed are personal