World Menstrual Hygiene Day
May 28th has a greater significance to women as it is World Menstrual Hygiene Day. The 28th denotes the average number of days between 2 cycles of Menstruation and the 5 numeral stands for 5 days of menstruation every woman undergoes for roughly 35 to 40 Years in her lifetime.
Rotary International which has a special focus on Girl/Women empowerment has taken up Menstrual Health and Hygiene management in a big way. Rotary International District 3232 which comprises 156 clubs in Chennai, had established a special team for Menstrual Health and Hygiene. Through this team starting from July 1st, 2021 till date, have been doing
- Advocacy and Awareness programs starting from What’s menstruation, health and hygiene need to be taken care of for good health, promotion of eco-friendly products for usage.
- Installing Sanitary Napkins vending machines at various public places to ensure that any girl or woman will have access to Period products wherever she is.
- To enable school children to have a Fresh and Clean period by providing them with cotton undergarments.
- Raising awareness on How it is imperative for every organization be it a school or public toilet or a toilet in a corporate to be Period Friendly.
- Conducting Talk shows on various health issues faced by women.
Having been reaching out to various segments of the society, In line with the International Menstrual Hygiene Day, had presented MHH ICON OF YEAR 21-22 under various categories namely.
Individual: Mr. Karthikeyan – Despite being a Man not only taking up but also handling this sensitive topic with women and girls from marginalized communities and creating awareness about the need for Menstrual health and hygiene with all stakeholders including men.
Partnering Organization: Geo India Foundation for always been the implementation and support partner for various initiatives undertaken by the Rotary clubs across Chennai and other outlying areas.
NGO: DORAI Foundation for their outreach about Menstrual Health and Hygiene to Tribal women and other communities.
Corporate: HLL Lifecare Limited along with Kerala State Women Development Corporation for their outstanding work in making Vazhoor Panchayat into an Eco-friendly menstrual products usage community thereby providing good comfort to Women as well as safeguarding the environment.
The awards were given away by Smt Amudhavalli IAS, Mission Director, ICDS Government of Tamil Nadu in the presence of Rtn J Sridhar, Governor, Rotary International District 3232, Smt Vinitha Venkatesh Director Ocean2Home, Smt Punitha Sridhar, First Lady RI Dist 3232, Rtn NS Saravanan, District Governor Nominee Designate 2024-25. Dr. M S Ravi Varma Director Community Services Health, Rtn Sarada Ramani, Chairman Menstrual Health & Hygiene. Also present were the President and Members of Rotary Club of Madras Temple City, Rotary Club of Madras East, Rotary Club of Madras Midtown, Rotary club of Chennai Thiruvanmiyur, Rotary Club of Chennai Mitra, Rotary Club of Chennai IT City, Annettes club of Madras Connemera and Rotaract Club of Saveetha School of Management.
Apart from presenting the awards, the clubs had also sponsored Menstrual Cups for Nursing Students from Omayal Achi College of Nursing, Teachers from Government High School Karapakkam, and Rotarators from Saveetha School of Management.
