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exacerbated when women aspire to use sanitary
pads but are faced with issues of affordability.
iii) Health risks for women and girls
The combined lack of awareness about
menstruation and access and use of hygienic
MHM methods has manifested in a host of
physical and psychological health and socio-
economic concerns for women and girls. The lack
of access to hygienic MHM products makes them
susceptible to adverse health conditions, psycho-
social stress, and gender-based violence and
animal attacks, and contributes to absenteeism
from school and the workplace.
Research has shown that when girls
cannot handle their menses in school, they
miss school days or may discontinue their
education altogether. Unhygienic management
of menses makes girls and women susceptible to
reproductive tract infections, repeated bouts of
which can increase their risks of cervical cancer
(see Box 6).
In the baseline study in Rajasthan, most
adolescents reported psycho-social trauma
because of the physical symptoms of the onset
of menarche and lack of information to ease the
trauma. All four states in the baseline studies
reported shame and trauma about the onset of
menarche, and about menstruation in general.
In Gujarat, 67% girls and women reported
that menstruation should be kept a secret and
experienced shame talking about it.
This lack of information has provided relationships. The culture of silence that
a perfect breeding ground for myths and envelops menstruation reinforces inequitable
misconceptions to take root. Myths also further gender norms and limits girls’ and women’s
entrench inequitable gender norms and power mobility and agency.
Hygiene check
6 Studies* associate lack of access to WaSH facilities and unhygienic WaSH practices with higher RTI
incidence in rural Indian girls and women across reproductive life stages.
*Source: Baker, Padhi, Torondel et al, 2017
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