Menstrual Hygiene Day 2022
May 28th was Menstrual Hygiene Day. Last year around this time we had a Bloody Important Message for the Dutch public: menstruation is cause for inequality.
And even today still about 500 million women don't have what they need to manage their periods. This year our partners and we raised also awareness for menstruation and period poverty. Some highlights.
TikTok toilet
In our programmes we work on menstrual health on a daily basis together with our partners. An example of how we raise awareness for menstruation friendly toilets in an accessible way, is this TikTok challenge we've launched around MH Day together with our partner NFCC in Nepal.
Menstrual health is an important component of the Our Lives, Our Health, Our Futures programme. Also this year, CSOs raised awareness to make menstrual health a topic of importance instead of a taboo in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. Activities this year mainly focused around highlighting the success of the girls’ club sessions in which girls were able to make their own reusable sanitary pads. In 2021, 10 CSOs have conducted trainings on making reusable sanitary pads in all 300 girls’ clubs – reaching a total of 11,279 girls. On MH day 2022, various CSOs had set up their own stalls in the community where girls demonstrated how to make reusable sanitary pads and tell community members about their experiences.
On the occasion of MH Day, the Our Lives, Our Health, Our Futures team has worked on a blog about how people involved in the programme experienced setting up the sessions on making reusable sanitary pads, and what they learned during this process.
Menstru[art]ion
In The Perfect Fit programme, women make reusable sanitary pads and menstrual underwear. It is distributed in seven rural areas in Indonesia and educates both men and women about menstrual health.
The Perfect Fit took an arty approach for Menstrual Hygiene Day. For example, there was a competition where you could win The Perfect Fit products with art on menstruation. And there were body positive linocut and pottery workshops.
Comic book
On MH Day - in partnership with EMac, Cemdo and WASEU, we’ve launched a comic book on Menstrual Hygiene Day in Kigoma region, Tanzania. The comic book Maji Mandiga is a true story about a lady who fights to save her town from a water crisis.
We all know that healthy and safe menstruation is essential for the well-being and empowerment of women and girls around the world. To have a safe menstruation, girls and women require access to water and sanitation.
The book presents an original and unique technique for conveying and assisting women and girls to become SRHR and WASH advocates in their communities, combining both visual imagery and animated text to effectively communicate the relevant message.
Menstrual Hygiene Day in Kenya
WASH Alliance Kenya decided to educate The community-Women, men, girls and boys all together about menstrual hygiene and health at Kibera. Menstruation awareness can help erase the stigmas around periods.
