MENSTRUAL HEALTH AND HYGIENE DAY 2021

Theme: Action and Investment in menstrual hygiene and health

Today, the world is observing menstrual health and hygiene day. Hurray!!!!.

Women and girls bleed every day and it is very important to talk about it because menstruation is very important to the existence of the human race.

Each month a woman, a girl, bleeds, her body is being prepared to bring a life into this world. Each month a woman menstruates it is possible she might carry out pregnancy. Therefore, the importance of celebrating a day like this cannot be overemphasized.

The date May 28 was chosen to observe the day because on an average the menstrual cycle for most women is 28 days and the menstruation period for most women is for five days. Therefore, 28/5 was kept as the day for raising awareness on menstrual health and hygiene.  

Women all over the world face a lot of challenges and difficulties- from taboo, to social stigma, from discrimination, to exclusion against women and girls, from fear to shame and inhibitions, because through no fault of theirs they are bleeding.

In a tweet the United nation wrote that “Menstrual health is a human right” Not only is it human rights, it is a natural biological process for procreation to be ongoing and as such should be dear to the heart of every group of people, race and tribe.

Menstruation is not dirty, it is not evil, it is not nasty; it is just a natural function of the human body.

Do you know that girls drop out of school due to lack of accessible menstrual hygiene facilities, pain and discomfort associated with periods?

Do you know that having your period can lead to child marriages, sexual violation and abuse?

Do you know that women in some countries opt for hysterectomy to remove their wombs to stop menstruating that causes absence from work?

Do you know that the stigma associated with periods and poverty leads to poor hygiene among a large section of rural women and girls who use leaves, dirty rags, wood husk, paper and other such materials instead of sanitary napkins during their periods?

Do you know that some women are driven out of their homes and even their communities during their periods?

Do you know that there are still taboos that deprive women from cooking for their husbands and touching anything in their homes during periods?

Do you know that in some communities women in their periods are not allowed to go to the river for water?

What then can we all do?

Talk, period! Educate, create awareness, communicate about periods, it is not a dirty thing to talk about.

Advocate for countries to invest in menstrual health by making sanitary supplies free for girls or tax-free to help fight period poverty.

Support the campaign, support a woman, support a girl to have a healthy menstrual life. It could be a pad a month for a school girl in your neighborhood or advocate for the provision of hygienic facilities for women and girls in the community, at school at the workplace and in homes.

Join us to celebrate a girl in her period, celebrate your wife as she goes through the monthly cycle. Let’s join hands with women and girls all over the world to celebrate this day about periods.

Women and girls are to report any disorder in their cycle to a health personnel, abnormalities could be signs of other medical conditions, (eg. Uterine Fibroids). Early diagnosis and treatment is advisable.

“Living with dignity is a human right that be preserved". PERIOD!