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Period PovertyWednesday, January 10, 2024
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Period Poverty & Its Impact
Period Poverty is a reality for many all around the world! Period Poverty can be defined as the lack of access to safe and hygienic menstrual products during monthly periods and inaccessibility to basic sanitation services or facilities as well as menstrual hygiene education. This directly impact one’s ability to navigate daily living activities. The lack of access to hygiene products can cause feelings of both seclusion and exclusion. People stay home from school or work, unable to participate in daily activities. Period Poverty can impact one’s mental health, resulting in anxiety, shame and isolation. One’s physical health can also be impacted with a lack of access to proper hygiene, including water and basic hygiene supplies.
How Then Do We End Period Poverty?
Education and awareness are the most effective ways to help remove the stigma surrounding menstruation. The removal of this stigma and shame that is attached to it is only the beginning. In any given month more than 1.8 billion people are menstruating. We need to create and share with all genders a message of normalcy around menstruation so that everyone can have dignity, health and an ease of access to supplies to fill their needs. But again, this is only the beginning. Understanding that these products are a necessity and, therefore, need to be accessible to all in need is the next step. This requires making them readily available to everyone, especially anyone struggling financially or impacted by harmful social misconceptions or ideologies. Menstruation should never limit anyone’s potential or ability to function in any situation.
US Statistics and Period Poverty
The summary of takeaways from that study are:
The lack of access to period products is directly linked to many social and economical factors. Period Poverty can be either a lack of access to or an inability to afford to purchase products. As having to choose between food or hygiene products is more and more an increased reality, we all need to work on reassessing how to overcome this issue.
Next Steps?
Period poverty is a multi-faceted issue. What does that mean? It means it will take a multi-faceted solution. This includes education, dispelling of myths and misconceptions, normalizing menstruation around the world, addressing basic access to hygiene necessities, economical solutions, eradicating social prejudices, and ultimately creating an environment where menstruation is simply a biological process. Period Poverty is a basic human rights issue that needs to be addressed with the following:
Only by all working together can we help to find solutions to ensure these basic needs are met for all. |
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Generic Administrator 29 August 29, 2024 |
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