Time to talk periods: Coalition declares first-ever
Menstrual Hygiene Day
WaterAid Press Release
WaterAid has joined a coalition of organisations to declare the first-ever Menstrual
Hygiene Day this Wednesday, 28 May.
On any given day, more than 800 million women between the ages of 15 and 49 are
menstruating. Yet menstruation remains a taboo subject.
Myths that in some cases date to Roman times – don’t look in a mirror or it will lose
its brightness, don’t touch a plant or it will wilt – persist today in many countries and
range from harmless to extreme, including banishment from the family home to an
outdoor shed during each cycle.
[Editors Note - For a further list of menstruation myths, see below.]
Barbara Frost, Chief Executive of WaterAid, said:
“It’s time for all of us to start talking about periods and bring an end to the
stigma that still surrounds menstruation. Taboos surrounding periods can take
a heavy toll on the health of girls and women in the developing world. Without
decent toilets or washing facilities, girls’ health is put at risk and they are likely
to drop out of school rather than face the humiliation of finding somewhere
private to change. By talking about periods, we can help normalise this natural
process and help girls and women live healthier and more dignified lives.”
WaterAid works in more than a dozen countries across Sub-Saharan Africa and
South Asia to teach women and their families how to care for themselves properly
during their periods. School projects range from building private, gender-separate
toilets and taps for washing to creating hygiene clubs where girls learn how to sew
washable, reusable sanitary towels.
The day also marks the launch of a WaterAid petition to remind world leaders that
safe water, a private toilet and soap and water for washing hands matter even more
to girls on their periods, and everyone, everywhere deserves them.
Fast facts about periods:
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UNESCO estimates one in 10 African girls miss school during their periods,
leading to a higher dropout rate.
70.9% of girls in India had no idea what was happening to them when they
started their first period. Some 66% of girls-only schools in India do not have
functioning toilets.
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One school study in Ethiopia reported over 50% of girls missing between one
and four days of school per month due to menstruation.
In South Asia, 32.5% of schoolgirls had not heard about menstruation before
their first periods, and nearly all of them – 97.5% did not know the blood was
coming from their uterus.
Case studies:
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Shamola Rani Mondol, 24, a hygiene education volunteer in Dhaka,
Bangladesh:
“The toilets were very terrible before. If I remember the previous situation, I
feel like vomiting,” she told WaterAid researchers. “When we had our periods
sometimes we would take help from other women, or we would have to stay in
our home. We would have to wash our cloths in the lake. This was very
difficult, especially in the rainy season, but we had no other way. We felt shy
and we had to make sure that there were no men about. We would find
somewhere to hide where there were no men.”
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Lydia, 16, a student in Kampala, Uganda at a school in Kifumbira slum which
has four latrines for more than 2,000 students. She does not attend school
during her period, and fears missing lessons will affect her wish to become a
doctor:
“The problems I face – we are sharing the toilets with the boys and we fear
when we go to the toilets that the boys will be in there. And so we don’t go to
school when we have our periods. Some toilets don’t have doors and so we
fear to enter, as people can see or enter the toilets at any time. At the toilets
they don’t have water to flush or wash, and so it’s complicated to attend
school when I have my period.”
[For more case studies and photos please click here]
Menstruation myths, from WaterAid’s research:
 Bathe or shower, and you’ll get sick. (Nearly worldwide, including here in the
UK in earlier generations.)
 Touch a plant and it will dry out. (Common in parts of East Africa)
If you look in a mirror, it will lose its brightness. (Dating to Roman times, as
written by philosopher Pliny the Elder, this persisted in Europe for centuries
and is still found in parts of East Africa)
Touch milk and it will curdle. (Also among Pliny the Elder’s gems; still a belief
in parts of Africa and India)
 If you touch a cow, it will become infertile. (India)
 Cold food or drinks will increase your cramps. (Versions of this circulate from
Russia across the Middle East to China)
 Don’t cut your hair or nails. (Persists in many countries)
 Your period has magical powers. (Another one from Pliny the Elder, who said
exposing period blood to lightning flashes would drive away hailstorms and
whirlwinds. Today in Suriname, period blood is still thought to help a woman
impose her will on a man – and to make a woman more susceptible to black
magic. In Sierra Leone, used napkins are thought to make others infertile).
ENDS
Notes to Editors
For more information or to arrange interviews please contact Carolynne
Wheeler, Media Officer, News, +44 (0)207 793 4485 or mobile +44 (0)7903
117715 or [email protected], or Hratche Koundarjian, News
Manager, +44 0207 793 4909 or [email protected].
For more on Menstrual Hygiene Day and the WASH United coalition, see
http://menstrualhygieneday.org/. Watch for Twitter hashtag #MenstruationMatters.
To learn more about WaterAid’s research and work on menstrual hygiene see
our report, We Can’t Wait, and our toolkit, Menstrual Hygiene Matters.
http://www.wateraid.org/uk/~/media/Publications/wecantwait.pdf
http://www.wateraid.org/~/media/Files/Global/MHM%20files/Compiled_LR.pdf
To learn more about the custom of chaupadi, or exclusion from the family home
during menstruation, read a report from rural Nepal and Bangladesh here.
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WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and
sanitation. The international organisation works in 26 countries across Africa,
Asia, Central America and the Pacific Region to transform lives by improving
access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in some of the world’s poorest
communities. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 19.2 million people with
safe water and, since 2004, 15.1 million people with sanitation. For more
information, visit www.wateraid.org, follow @WateraidUK on Twitter or visit us
on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wateraid.
Around 1,400 children die every day from diseases caused by dirty water and
poor sanitation.
748 million people are without safe water, or one in 10 in the world.
2.5 billion people are without adequate sanitation, or 39% of the world's
population.