2.Women Empowerment
A. Protect Girl, A safe, health and hygiene project:
The challenge:
Let’s recognize and felicitate those who break the silence for such inhuman practice of menstrual restriction.
Dr.Nandini Desai: Dean: M P Shah Government Medical College, Jamnagar.
The Health and hygiene of women have been one of the most important concerns over the years. The awareness about menstrual hygiene and the importance of using sanitary napkins is absent. 80 to 90% of women in rural India do not have access to sanitary napkins and use alternatives like pieces of rag, ash, sand, and husk. As a result, almost 1 in every 4 adolescent girls in the country quits school when she hits puberty. Poor menstrual hygiene is also responsible for almost 70% of reproductive diseases in India. Using unclean cloth during menstruation can increase the risk of infections by up to 200%.
The worldwide incidence of cervical cancer is approximately 510,000 new cases annually, with approximately 288,000 deaths worldwide. In India, every year 122844 cases and 67477 deaths And 334 cases per day 185 deaths every day, It means every 8 minutes one woman dies. Poor menstrual hygiene can cause fungal infections, Reproductive Tract Infection, and Urinary Tract Infection which might lead to cervical cancer. Women who practice unhygienic practices are also vulnerable to infertility.
How does the lack of sanitary napkins and superstitions stand as a barrier for Indian women?
How “Safe Health and Hygiene” Project works: “Protect Girl” Movement
Chaitanya Charitable Trust wants to ensure that every girl in this state and country has access to sanitary napkins in their homes, schools, nearby hospitals and wants to educate them about the significance of wearing these pads and the diseases that could result from them neglecting to wear it. Further, Chaitanya Charitable Trust wants to educate them about the importance of Menstrual Hygiene and girl child education and how periods need not be a barrier in women’s life to explore her horizons. The main motto behind this project is to create awareness about sanitary napkins, easy availability of sanitary napkins, and to suggest the proper use during menstruation and proper disposal of sanitary napkins.
12% of India’s 355 million menstruating people use sanitary napkins. Over 88% of women resort to shocking alternatives. It’s time to change the numbers.
Dr.Atul Vekaria. President: Indian Medical Association Jamnagar Chapter
How to solve the issue :
In the first phase, Chaitanya Charitable Trust has a plan to adopt 10,000 underprivileged girls/women of urban/rural Jamnagar District and plan for access free of cost/low-cost sanitary napkins every month to 10,000 girls. To achieve our target we need your support and encouragement. (In the second phase we would like to reach 1,00,000 girls/women)
We are also going to start a low-cost Sanitary Napkin Manufacturing unit and work for Menstrual Hygiene Awareness, we have divided our need partly to cover all activities, and anyone can assist any part and support the Safe Health and Hygiene Project.
Objectives:
- Menstrual hygiene and management are essential to ensure that adolescent school going girl’s everyday lives and education are not interrupted by menstruation. It ensures that they continue with their daily routines such as going to school or doing household chores. It can also prevent potential situations of embarrassment for them and in turn, make them feel confident about their body. In this sense, maintaining proper menstrual hygiene is important for their wellbeing and development. The main aim of Menstrual Hygiene is to break the taboos associated with it and raise awareness about the importance of good menstrual hygiene management for women and adolescent girls in urban and rural areas.
This is the time when our Indian women are ready to break all taboos and put her inequality in modern society.
Dr.Chandrika Tanna. Gynecologist, Jivandeep Hospital, and Polyclinic
- Implementation of MHM in schools will have better school attendance of adolescent girls as they will get sanitary pads at a reasonable price as and when needed.
- In the absence of a proper disposal system, the sanitary pads may be dumped in the open air or dumped in the toilets, thus sometimes the sewage lines may also get choked up. Proper disposal of used sanitary pads will have better sanitation in the surrounding area. To make people also aware of disposing of the pads in the incinerator machine, so that they get a habit of throwing the pads into the incinerator and help in sustainable development. Introduce a low-cost incinerator.
- To create awareness in school, college, and community in the girls/women (who aren’t poor) to sponsor the slum girls/women by donating Rs 500 and giving them pads for a year.
Mission Statement:
Facilitation of adequate safe menstrual hygiene management.
Methodology:
Reaching the slums and villages: For promoting awareness for use of sanitary napkins in the urban slums and rural areas and more importantly the poor community girls and women, it is very important to make a plan to reach school and college in urban slums and villages. We shall plan to use print media, social media and organize workshops, rally, wall paint, stickers, street play, exhibition, workshop, and seminar and will organize innovative events, etc.
Dissemination of information: This would be done in various ways like taking support from the volunteers, peer leaders of the group in the local communities.
School-level awareness: A good proportion of the adolescent girls attend the schools. It would be advantageous for us to create awareness among these girls and involve in the promotion of low-cost sanitary napkins as directly by telling the importance of the same in their family and neighborhood as well. This can be done through sessions and issue-based discussions with the girl students.
Target groups:
Adolescent girls (10-19 age group): Jamnagar and DevBhoomi Dwarka District and urban slum poCkets.
Women (20-45 age group): Jamnagar and Dwarka District and urban slum pockets.
We are in the 21st century. Let’s improvise our cultural values and practices.
-Dr.R. Joshi: Medical Officer of Health. Jamnagar Municipal Corporation.
Expenses :
| Sponsor a girl and provide protection for one year | ||
| Sponsorship Detail, choose your option. | ||
| Sr. | No. of Girls | Amount INR |
| 1 | 1 | 500 |
| 2 | 100 | 50000 |
| 3 | 1000 | 500000 |
| 4 | 10000 | 5000000 |
Above your support and sponsorship will cover the following expenses :
- Menstrual Hygiene Awareness workshop at school and collages
- Use and Distribution of Incinerator to school/colleges and public places
- Organize exhibitions, workshops, and group meetings.
- Free or low-cost Sanitary Napkins distribution to 10000 deprived girls for every month for a year.
B. Saurashtra’s First Sanitary Pad Manufacturing Unit inaugurated at Jamnagar
Event: – Menstrual Hygiene Awareness Workshop and inauguration of Saurashtra’s first manufacturing unit by Mayor of Jamnagar on 11th July 2018, 11.15 hrs.
Shri Chaitanya Charitable Trust hosted an event, a menstrual hygiene workshop at Sajuba Girls High School, Ranjit Road, Jamnagar. The chief guest for the event was Shri Hasmukh Jethwa, Mayor JMC. The anchor and the organizer of the event were Shri Hitesh Pandya, Founder, and chairman of the Chaitanya Charitable Trust. Other Honorable dignitaries invited were Sri. Sarojben Kubavat (President, Sakhi club I), Chandrikaben Dudhagara (Sakhi Club-1) Shri. Madhuban Bhatt (Principal, High School ), Atul Bhandari (Corporator, JMC), Nikunj Thesiya (District Manager), Raju Border(Co-coordinator) Vimal Aghora (Trustee, Chaitanya Charitable Trust), Seema Aghora (Marketing-CCT), Dhavni Shah (M P Shah Medical College), Khushi Desai (M P Shah Medical College)
The audience of the event were the 11th and 12th standard 398 girls. The Inauguration of the program started with the lighting of the lamp in which all the honorable guests lighted the diyas given to them. It was then followed by a welcome song by the girls of the school. The event was then followed by the speech of the chief guest. The chief guest then distributed 184 sanitary pad packets to the 12th standard girls. The event was then moved forward by the speech by Sri. Atulbhai Bhandari, Corporate, JMC. Followed by a workshop on Menstrual Hygiene by Dr. Dhavni Shah (M P Shah Medical College), Khushi Desai (M P Shah Medical College) in which girls understood the right ways of using sanitary pads and its importance. The event then came to an end by a vote of thanks given by Hitesh Pandya for making the event a success.