New Delhi: A sensitisation-cum-training workshop on the topic of menstrual health and hygiene was organised on Tuesday (May 28) for sanitation workers and other employees of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC). The workshop, marking the Menstrual Health Awareness Day, was organised by Delhi-based NGO (Non-Government Organisation) Sachhi Saheli in collaboration with the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA). The event aimed to equip this “neglected group of the society with proper education on menstrual health and hygiene as they have the least access to health care services and education”, the organisers said.
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Surbhi Singh, gynaecologist and founder of Sachhi Saheli said,
You take care of all of us by maintaining hygiene and sanitation and today we are here to impart to you proper knowledge so that you can effectively take care of your personal and menstrual hygiene. I am confident that the knowledge you gain here on menstruation will help you overcome taboos related to menstruation.
The inauguration ceremony was followed by musical and dance performances by students from GGSSS (Government Girls Senior Secondary School), Mayur Vihar Phase 3, centred around the theme of menstruation awareness. Students of ‘Mukhota’, the dramatics society from Delhi University, also presented a nukkad natak –“Naari tu Bolegi, Muh Kholegi, Tabhi Zamana Badlega”.
Apart from education on menstruation, the workshop also informed about various legal services through DLSA’s commitment towards providing free legal aid and services which include providing free lawyers and victim compensation to women, children, transgender, and senior citizens.
Kamaljeet Arora from DLSA said that it was important for men to take part in such discussions. He said, “Men should also participate in such discussions so that they are able to understand and help other women to have sufficient knowledge about periods. Menstruation is a natural process and menstruating girls and women are not impure.”
The event came to an end with a dance-cum-skit performance by students of GGSSS Shakarpur, who encouraged the audience members to take a pledge in joining the movement to end taboos around menstruation.
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NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
