Period Poverty: A menstruator’s plea for communal responsibility

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Ms. Shivani Nirgudkar, a fourth year medical student of Rajiv Gandhi Medical College, Maharashtra, India. 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.

Like most diseases that plague the earth, period poverty has multifactorial aetiology, the most prominent one being the shame that surrounds menstruation. This, coupled with the financial dependence and poverty experienced by female and gender non-binary menstruators leads to unhygienic, harmful practices. A Thomson Reuters Foundation analysis of data from several countries shows the ‘tampon tax’ cuts have done little to help the roughly 500 million menstruating people who face period poverty worldwide (1). This has had unignorable consequences on menstruators overall- reproductive tract infections, eating disorders to delay menstrual cycles, frequent absenteeism, lost opportunities social ostracism. Period poverty and its consequences are also linked with various other violations of human rights and poverties.

Anyone who believes that all humans have a right to health, should ensure that collaborative efforts are taken in eradicating this raging yet very basic hindrance in equitable access to health. 

The youth must be targeted as a primary, high-interest stakeholder. By clarifying their values, they can cultivate a scientifically sound mindset and understand the need for meaningful local engagement early on. This could later be harnessed by institutions: schools, colleges and other workplaces.

Early introduction and integration of sex education in the curriculum, involving caregivers at primary levels as well, shall go a long way to instate a working knowledge of human biology in young children.

After thorough research and isolation of areas that are affected by period poverty, institutes near them- including but not limited to healthcare institutes- should be encouraged to do the following:

1. Have periodic recapitulations on basic healthcare for self and community, as taught in schools.
2. Peer-based education, awareness and destigmatization in needy populations. This should be done using formal training modules designed keeping in mind region-wise customs such that one promotes health while still being culturally respectful.
3. Identify areas that fail to maintain the WHO standards of good menstrual health viz. clean toilets, adequate access to safe water, and equitable access to reasonably priced/ free menstrual products. Inform the local authorities via campaigns and formal petitions.
4. Partnership with various NGOs for fundraising and distribution of menstrual hygiene products can be started such that students are involved early on in groundwork with marginalised populations.
5. Intersectoral collaborations of students in non-healthcare and healthcare fields to take care of all the aspects of period poverty viz. economic viability, legalities and implications on physical, mental and social well-being.
6. Promoting telemedicine to help peers who miss schools due to dysmenorrhea etc. cover education.

Governments globally should conduct regular surveys to monitor the feasibility and applicability of said initiatives, and make this channel for assistance an ever-evolving one.

This Menstrual Hygiene Day, this article is a cry for help by one of us, for all of us. It is an appeal to the youth to collectively stand against the stigma and patriarchal undertones surrounding a normal physiological process, so that every menstruator can attain the right to health in its truest sense.

1. https://www.reuters.com/article/women-health-periods-idINL1N34I248
3. About the author
4. The author  is a fourth year medical student of Rajiv Gandhi Medical College, Maharashtra, India, who’d rather have her nose buried in fiction books, than in a microscope screening for basophils. An avid writer and researcher, she has contributed to journals and magazines at national and international levels. Her forte being sexual and reproductive health and rights, she believes that continuously striving for the beneficence of one’s patients is what makes a healthcare provider successful. As a prospective doctor and as a true global citizen, she wishes to leave the world a better place with her learnings.