National Webinar on Menstrual Hygiene Day was virtually celebrated on May 28th by RDI in collaboration with SRHU. The celebration was based on the theme “Translating Increased Attention for Menstrual Hygiene into Measurable Action and Investment.”
The event saw virtual participation of over 500 people. The participant profile included teachers of the State Government schools of Uttarakhand as well as many stakeholders of development sector. The objective was to initiate relationship with State Education Department on academics, research, training and rolling out of specific regional strategies to handle the challenges of MHM among the school-going adolescents.
The event saw a wide range of eminent speakers such as Dr. Chauhan (Pro.VC, SRHU), Padma Shri S. Damodaran, Dr. Sushma Dureja (Ministry of Family Welfare, Government of India), Ms. Vandana Garbyal (Director, Elementary Education, Uttarakhand), Mr. Anurag Chauhan (Founder, Human for Humanity, Dehradun and recipient of Karamveer Chakra by United Nations, Mahatma Puraskar, 2021 for Social Impact), Ms. Mridu Kamal (Executive Director, Avaazein Foundation, New Delhi), Ms. Suman (National Chief, National Human Rights Organization, New Delhi and oscar winner for her documentary on menstruation), Dr. Enas Mushtaq (Assistant Professor, HIMS, SRHU) and Ms. Neelam Pandey (Project Coordinator, RDI) & Dr. Rajeev Bijalwan (Dy. Director-Health RDI).
All the speakers spoke of the pressing need to address the issues of menstruation and women health more effectively, elaborately and accessibly.
Padma Shri S. Damodaran spoke on the importance of managing the alternatives of menstrual care keeping the environment in mind by promoting production of eco-friendly, innovative, washable, reusable safe and hygienic sanitary napkins to be adopted at larger scale.
Dr. Sushma Dureja emphasized on cleanliness and hygiene. She mentioned that in today’s time the management of menstruation requires three key things: awareness, access (mainly in rural setup) and disposal of used sanitary napkin in an environment friendly manner. Ms. Vandana Garbyal gave perspective about education department’s preparation at state level. RDI has ensured collaboration with the department across Uttarakhand to train the school-going adolescent girls, engaging the teachers.
