How to improve menstrual health in India

GOOD menstrual health is a matter of life and death – and that is no exaggeration. Even though menstruation is an indispensable process to create life on Earth, there is still stigma and discrimination against menstruation as “unclean” and is hidden and spoken of in hushed tones as a result. This is baffling but is a symptom of the larger discrimination against women. But as the times progress, menstrual health is being brought forward as a front and center issue to ensure that girls and women have access to the products and facilities needed to be in good health while normalizing periods as a fact of life and breaking the stigma.

 

Menstrual Health Day

Each May 28th, the world observes Menstrual Health Day or Menstrual Hygiene Day. The purpose of Menstrual Health Day is to teach people around the world what menstruation is, give girls and women access to period products and break the stigma against periods so that all females everywhere can live longer and be in better health. The 2025 theme for Menstrual Health Day is Together for a #PeriodFriendlyWorld. This theme encourages people around the world to come together to make sure that no girl or woman is harmed or affected because of people’s stigma against menstruation. 

 

If you are wondering why Menstrual Health Day is celebrated on May 28th, there is a special reason! Most girls and women have a 28-day menstrual cycle which means there are 28 days in between periods which last for 5 days. In honor of the facts of this biological process, the 28th of the fifth month was chosen to shine the light on the importance of menstruation in sustaining human life and tackle the issues that affect girls and women. 2014 was the first year that Menstrual Hygiene Day was celebrated after being put forth by a German organization called WASH United to end the stigma against periods and help girls have healthier periods.

 

How are girls and women affected?

Because of the stigma against menstruation, girls and women suffer from poor menstrual health due to a lack of access to period products such as sanitary pads. In these situations, they are forced to use random objects found around the house such as old pieces of cloth or even clumps of hay from the fields. This leads to serious infections, reproductive complications and even death. Furthermore, when girls and women do suffer from health problems related to poor menstrual health, the stigma prevents them from seeking medical help for problems such as excessive pain or bleeding which could be symptomatic of more serious reproductive problems.

 

For girls, the lack of restrooms in schools means that when these children get their periods, they have to stay at home and end up missing around one week of school a month. This makes them fall behind in their studies and their parents then pull their daughters out of school. The lack of education for girls means that there are greater chances of child marriage since they are not able to seek employment and be financially independent. Their hopes and dreams for the future are crushed and many do not even understand why something as normal and simple as a period should place them at a disadvantage. 

 

The lack of awareness has led to suicide and murder 

For most people, menstruation is a mysterious word. But neglecting what menstruation is leads to death as with the case of a young girl in Mumbai who started her first period but was so scared to see that she was bleeding that she hanged herself in her room and died. In worse situations, girls are often the victims of honour killing by male family members who see their menstrual blood and mistake it for the result of sexual activity, as in the case of this twelve year old girl murdered by her brother in Mumbai. It must be said that the man would still have committed a crime even if his initial “suspicions” had been correct.

 

Menstrual health or menstrual hygiene?

The term menstrual hygiene has been used to describe the practical aspects of maintaining periods such as access to period products and washrooms with running water. But menstruation is much more than that. The term menstrual hygiene came to be associated with cleanliness and seeing as menstruation already suffers from the stigma of being “unclean”, the decision was made to change the term to menstrual health. This takes the definition and the approach further than the practical. It requires a shift in our thinking about what menstruation is and breaking the negative stereotypes about periods.

 

Education is the way to end period poverty

What is period poverty? It is the lack of access to period products, facilities such as washrooms and awareness or knowledge of menstruation. We have seen how this can cause harm and death in the lives of girls and women across India. But through education, the stigma against discrimination and indifference toward this natural process can end in our villages, towns and cities. This is what Give aims to accomplish through Mission: End Period Poverty which is a campaign that invites individuals to join the nationwide effort to raise awareness on menstruation and distribute free sanitary products to underprivileged girls and women. 

 

To learn more about what it means to end period poverty and promote good menstrual health for all girls and women across India, read more below about the steps we are taking and join us in our effort to bring gender based justice to half the population of India.

 

End Period Poverty!

 

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