In the absence of information related to menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls, especially in the remote areas of Ranchi, the district administration has taken a unique initiative. To create awareness about the issue a programmed called MHM (Menstrual Hygiene Management) Chachi has been launched at schools across the City.
Started in the last week of October, under this campaign, a box titled ‘MHM Chachi’ is being placed in every school with girl students. In the pilot project such boxes have been placed at 13 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas in the district.
“The taboos surrounding menstruation exclude women from many social aspects and this step has been taken to change that. This is basically a method from which the aim is to get students to know what MHM is. Menstrual hygiene is something which is not discussed very openly so these boxes are being placed to clear all doubts,” said Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Rai Mahimapat Ray. The kits contain IEC materials, comics with information related to menstruation. Samples of products like bio degradable reusable sanitary napkins and menstrual cups will also be there. “In urban cities, girls have easy access to information pertaining to menstrual hygiene on their mobile phones and television sets while this is not the case in rural areas. This initiative has been taken not only to create awareness about maintaining proper hygiene during menstruation but also includes health related issues because of unhygienic conditions,” said Aspirational District Fellow Satwik Mishra
The administration has also planned to appoint MHM Guides in each school to solve all queries and psychological problems related to menstruation, especially in the initial few years. For this girls can post their doubts anonymously which will be cleared once a month under ‘Mahavari pe Charcha’ which will be conducted in the school itself and teachers will also be trained for the same.
MHM Chachi will provide a library kind of set up and the initiative is being supported by WSSCC and Menstrupedia which are providing IEC materials and comics to be installed in libraries Under this initiative the team plans to take this mission to as many as 100 schools by the end of the year.