Port Blair, April 3: The field of medicine has made a lot of progress over the years but menstrual health is one aspect that continues to be side-lined. The importance of menstrual health is grossly undermined because of the social norms and associated stigma. Because it is less talked about, there is less awareness on the importance of having a good menstrual health and maintaining menstrual hygiene practices which in turn results in several health issues. To address this, a team of 7 MBBS Students from Batch 2019 at ANIIMS conducted a health education session on “Menstrual Health and Hygiene – Let’s Talk!” in Government Senior Secondary School at Manglutan, led by Dr. Priyanka Yadav, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Community Medicine, with the support of Dr. Vivin Vincent, HOD and Dr. Pragya Sharma, Director ANIIMS.

The students took a session for all girl students in the school from 9th to 11th standard where they educated them about functions of a female reproductive system, physiology of a menstrual cycle, various sanitary methods that can be used during their periods along with the advantages and disadvantages of each, the problems associated with menstruation and lastly, about good menstrual hygiene practices.

When the session had started, the girl students hesitated in responding to questions being asked but towards the end there was good participation from their end. At the end of the session, the talk was summarized by Dr. Priyanka with emphasis on the important points and this was followed by a question answer session.

In order to promote menstrual health, small prizes were given away to those who answered, and the prize included stationary along with a packet of oxo-biodegradable sanitary pads called Suvidha which is an initiative by the Jan Aushadhi Kendra. These pads are environment friendly unlike the regular pads in the market which take 500-800 years to degrade and are available at a very nominal price of 1 Re/pad. The session was concluded by encouraging them to use these biodegradable pads which are available at the nearest Jan Aushadhi Kendra and by addressing their questions and concerns regarding menstrual health.