Period poverty: how can youth be the key to breaking taboo surrounding menstruation and enact change

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Ms. Mercy Chepkemoi, a level five medical student from Kenya. She is affiliated to the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writers and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.

Yes! Period poverty should indeed be everybody’s business but how can youth be the key to putting an end to it? Period poverty is defined as the lack of sufficient access to menstrual education, menstrual hygiene products and sanitation facilities. (Jaafar et al. 2023). Menstruation taboos range from viewing menstruating women as impure to alienating them from certain activities in the community. The impacts of period poverty include school absence due to lack of sanitary products, lowered self-esteem, among others.To end period poverty, the youth can contribute in several ways.

1. Education: The youth should partake in continuously enlightening members of the community including parents, teachers, girls and boys about matters period, menstruation and menstrual hygiene. Lack of education not only allows myths and misconceptions surrounding menstrual to thrive but also breeds menstrual stigma perpetuation. This is possible through community outreach and mass awareness. The youth should be actively involved in challenging stereotypes, misinformation and taboos surrounding menstruation. Content creation: The youth can leverage on social media platforms such as TikTok and You Tube to create awareness on period poverty and its impacts. In addition to informing the population about the impacts of period poverty and menstruation stigma, this can also be a good avenue to invite donors and charity organizations to support pad drives for girls in schools. In addition, this can also be a gateway to encouraging open discussion about menstruation and period poverty among families and members of the community to actively seek ideas to end period poverty. Mentorship: Ensuring early exposure of girls to menstrual information not only helps them be better prepared for menarche but also helps them embrace menstruation and not feel ashamed about it. Youth mentorship organizations to adolescent girls can be an antidote to period poverty. Such platforms can be utilized to teach girls on matters self-esteem and awareness about the importance of menstrual health.Youth active participation in policy making. Among the key factors contributing to period poverty is unaffordable hygiene products. Not only should sanitary products be affordable, but also quality to ensure safe access to all. Hiba Mohammed narrates to the UN women that “The increasing prices of menstrual hygiene products have seriously affected us”. This among many other narrations is a call to action for youth to be part of the solution in ending period poverty by getting involved in policy making to ensure affordability of sanitary products. Furthermore, learning institutions should be equipped with adequate supply of sanitary products for use by girls when in need. This will not only prevent school absence due to lack of hygiene products but also help girl’s overall psychosocial growth. Youths, therefore, should champion for budgetary allocation of sanitary products and services to ensure adequate supply to all girls in need. 

REFERENCES

1. Jaafar, H., Ismail, S. Y., & Azzeri, A. (2023). Period Poverty: A Neglected Public Health Issue. Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine.UN women organization:In Lebanon women fight period poverty and taboos to promote menstral health (Internet). Available from:https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/feature-story/2023/04/in-lebanon-women-fight-period-poverty-and-taboos-to-promote-menstrual-

About the author

Mercy Chepkemoi is a level five medical student from Kenya and a member of International Federation of medical students (IFMSA). She is passionate about research and admires skilled article writers.