Do you know how many women in India menstruate?
There are 40 crore menstruating women in India.
Do you know how many of them use Sanitary napkins or pads?
The number is less than 20%.
So, what does this mean?
This only indicates that most females do not have consistent access to good-quality menstrual hygiene products and that too every month.
Then what do women all over India use when they are on their periods?
Data shows that around 88% of women and girls in India use unhygienic homemade alternatives, such as old cloth, rags, hay, sand, or ash.
Can you guess how harmful all these are for women?
Can you imagine how many fatal diseases spread by using these materials?
And this horror does not stop here.
About 71% of adolescent girls in India remain unaware of menstruation until they get their first period. Women are afraid to talk about it, even with their own daughters. Most men do not know, others do not care.
This adversely affects the confidence and self-esteem of females all over our country. This lack of awareness means that they do not prioritise menstrual health as an essential need.
Sanitary napkins are not that cheap and thus, underprivileged women are unable to afford them for themselves or their daughters. They suffer and so do their daughters.
Even today, menstrual cups are unaffordable for a lot of urban women.
The ones that can afford them feel that they would be uncomfortable. Others are afraid of inserting something inside them.
In fact, even though tampons were invented several years ago, even today they are not that famous.
Because women do not switch to different items easily and there are a lot of myths associated with these products.
And all these issues arise because of the social stigma associated with periods.
Students are not made properly aware about this normal biological process in school. Thus, girls try to hide it as they are embarrassed, and boys make fun of it because they do not know how painful and stressful it is.
We at Futureseed Earth Foundation wish to put an end to the barriers that women face when it comes to menstrual hygiene.
We are taking small steps to make underprivileged women understand why they need to take proper care of themselves during their periods and why they should switch to safe products like Sanitary napkins instead of unhygienic alternatives.
As a part of this, we have held Sanitary Napkin Donation drives in two states (three cities), where we have distributed to Sanitary Pads and Masks and hygiene kits to women and girls and have made them aware of their benefits.
If you like what we do and if you want us to continue to keep doing this, please come forward and donate.
No amount is small and Every rupee that you donate will help is reaching maximum number of women who need this!
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