Around 53% girls surveyed in Jharkhand believed that menstrual blood is dirty
Photo: iStock “One should not go to the farm or touch the crops during menstruation,” said a Sahiyya (ASHA worker of Jharkhand) from Kolebira block of Simdega. Another Sahiyya from the same block said that women and girls are neither allowed to wear new clothes during menstruation nor can they participate in any auspicious function.
Menstruation-related myths vary between communities; the above are from tribal communities of Jharkhand.
Menstruation remains a taboo topic in the country and low awareness on menstrual hygiene among women and girls complicates the problem further. National estimates show that only 58 per cent of adolescent girls in India use hygienic methods to manage their periods.
Menstruation-related myths have been prevalent since Vedic times and women are considered “impure” during the menstruation days. Being barred from offering prayers, entering the kitchen, touching pickles and several other common mythical practices related to menstruation still prevail.
Besides myths, there is little understanding of the basics of menstruation. Less than 30 per cent girls were aware that menstruation is linked to the reproductive cycle, according to a survey on 880 adolescent girls of 10-19 age group in Simdega Khunti and Ranchi of Jharkhand conducted by the Child in Need Institute (CINI) and DASRA, a social impact organisation.
The ingrained social norms have made the women and girls to actualise these myths and they also believe in them. About 41 per cent girls believed that touching pickles during menstruation will spoil it.
Only 62 per cent girls were aware of the correct adolescent age and only 72 per cent of them could recognise signs of puberty.
Around 50 per cent of the girls were either not aware or did not agree that menstrual blood flows from the uterus and 53 per cent believed that the menstrual blood is dirty.
Around 19 per cent girls also opined that one should not bathe during menstruation (this might be linked with the fact that they usually bathe in ponds or rivers which can dirty the water) and 13 per cent also perceived menstruation as an illness.
Research articles and interventions have proposed awareness building among girls, community-based health education campaigns, sensitisation of health workers, among others as strategies to work on menstrual hygiene myths and safe menstrual practices promotion.
However, these are usually one-time non-sustainable interventions. Hence, CINI and DASRA came together to build upon existing government flagship programmes for adolescents like Rashtriya Kishor Swaasthya Karykram (RKSK) and School Health Wellness Programmes, which have components of menstrual health and sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The ‘resilience’ strategy as mentioned in the National Adolescent Health Strategy, 2013 was also taken into perspective. CINI’s community presence of five decades and constant government engagement led to support in operationalising community-based and adolescent-led Adolescent Health & Wellness Days (AHWD).
AHWDs are a very critical component of RKSK held twice a year in Jharkhand in RKSK districts. Though this is to be a community-level event led by the auxiliary nurse and midwife and accredited social health activist workers, adolescent engagement was ensured through this innovation and it became the catalyst for success of these community level wellness events.
Through capacity building of 1,245 peer educators selected under RKSK in two districts of Jharkhand, CINI rolled out an empowerment module called “Spandan” at this platform and reached out to 32,473 adolescents in 420 villages of Jharkhand.
It comprised seven activity-based modules: On life skill education, nutrition and balanced diet, sexual and reproductive health rights, healthy mind and healthy body, non-communicable diseases, gender concept and gender-based violence, child rights and child protection.
During the AHWDs, taboos around menstruation, seeking health services and mental health issues owing to menstruation became a part of the discussions.
Owing to leadership building and mobilisation of the peer educators, this discussion gained momentum. Increased participation of mothers, school teachers and even health officials was observed at the AHWDs, which strengthened the scientific explanation of menstruation, led to increased referrals to seek menstruation and other SRHR services and improved access and utilisation of iron folic acid among adolescent girls.
Tanvi Jha, state programme manager, Child in Need Institute.
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.
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