Tiruchi, Feb 1, 2013: In an effort to highlight the importance of menstrual hygiene for rural schoolgirls, skits were staged by students of Cauvery College for Women to deliver the message effectively.

The National Service Scheme and the recently launched WISH forum (Women for Sanitation and Hygiene), at the college ensured 300 schoolgirls from villages adopted by the NSS including Sirugamani, J.J.Nagar, Valluvar Nagar, Kavalkarapalayam and S. Pudhukottai were informed on the fundamentals of menstruation hygiene management.

Kheyali and Dipayanti
A grade 9 student of Panchagram High School, Ghaighata Block, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, the first rank holder in class with a lot of dreams to excel in life- this is Kheyali who is just 13 years old.
Dipayanti is 14 and she is in Grade 10.
Both Kheyali and Dipayanti share two things in common. They go to the same school and they both are members of the School WATSAN Committee.

Nairobi, Dec. 19, 2012: Menstrual hygiene issues should be integrated into programmes and policies across sectors, including water, sanitation and hygiene, reproductive health, emergency management, and education, notes a new report.

Tiruchi, Nov. 28, 2012: “How can I teach my class about female reproductive organs,” a bashful high school teacher wanted to know. “What do I do when my students skip classes citing menstrual pain?” was an anxious tutor’s query. “Can you recommend a diet for anaemic girls?” another teacher wanted to know.

This article explores girls’ voiced experiences of menstruation and schooling in rural and urban Ghana. The study was conducted in the Greater Accra Region (rural and urban) and the Tamale-Tolon-Kumbungu Districts of Northern Ghana. These regions are predominantly populated by the Ga-Dangme, and the Dagbani. The major aim of the study was to better understand the intersection of menarche, menstrual management and schooling for pubescent girls in Ghana, in order to adapt a Tanzania’s girl’s puberty book to the Ghana context.

Menstrual hygiene matters is an essential resource for improving menstrual hygiene for women and girls in lower and middle-income countries.
Nine modules and toolkits cover key aspects of menstrual hygiene in different settings, including communities, schools and emergencies.

This comprehensive resource:

Oct. 19, 2012: In June 2010, the Centre approved an unprecedented scheme to promote menstrual health by distributing subsidised sanitary pads among adolescent girls. Priced at Rs.1 each, the pads were targeted at 15 million girls between the years of 10 and 19, and across 152 districts in 20 States. It also decided to supply sanitary napkins to 200 million rural women in the age group 20 to 45, providing each with an annual stock of 100 napkins.

Maharashtra, Oct. 4, 2012: Priyanka, 13 and a chirpy adolescent girl studying in a government school in a village called ‘Rohini Gaun’ 25 kms from Wardha in Maharashtra blushes and says, “We don’t talk about it at all!”. That is how deep seated the taboo around menstruation is in rural India and our society as a whole, where mothers do not discuss it with their daughters or even among themselves.

Young girls and women menstruate on average close to 3,000 days over a lifetime, or nearly 10 years of their lives. However, shockingly few are able to manage this natural monthly biological occurrence  - known as Menstrual Hygiene Management- without shame and pain.

Kathmandu, Sept 26, 2012: Civil society members today urged the public to break the silence on menstrual hygiene and discuss the topic openly.

Advocate Sapana Pradhan Malla, addressing a programme organised by WaterAid and other NGOs working in the water and sanitation sector, said patriarchal society had imposed discriminatory practices on women during menstruation.

Women and girls are considered impure during menses and not allowed to cook, participate in religious ceremonies or come in contact with male family members.