Delhi WCD Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam launches week-long menstrual hygiene campaign

Delhi Women and Child Development Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam and DCPCR launched a week-long menstrual hygiene campaign here on the occasion of Menstrual Hygiene Day on Thursday. During the campaign, the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) will reach out to the east and the northeast districts of the national capital to distribute one lakh sanitary napkins to women and adolescent girls living in various JJ clusters, an official statement said.

Through this campaign, DCPCR aims to reach out to maximum households to create awareness about menstrual hygiene with the help of civil society organisations. The focus here is to see the participation of not just women but also men in this conversation around menstruation and women's health, it said.  "Awareness regarding menstrual health and hygiene needs to begin at the level of the family. Due to various socio-economic barriers, women, especially adolescent girls, living in slums and JJ clusters have bare minimum access to clean toilets and sanitation," Gautam said. The minister said the aim of the campaign was not only to distribute sanitary napkins but also to create awareness among families regarding menstrual hygiene.  "We need to get rid of the stigma which is attached to menstruation to have a society where both men and women have equal participation in public life," he added.

In India, there is a lot of stigma around menstruation, the statement said, adding that women are not allowed access to public spaces if they menstruating.  In many cases, girls have to drop out of school or women have to quit their jobs due to lack of clean toilets and sanitation facilities which is essential during menstruation, it said. Through the campaign, the Women and Child Development Department aims to address all these issues through massive public participation and social awareness, the statement said.

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