Dibrugarh District Administration organized webinar on menstrual hygiene

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

DIBRUGARH: A webinar on 'MHM during Pandemic, insights and innovation', was organized by the Dibrugarh District Administration in collaboration with UNICEF, Assam recently as part of the Menstrual Hygiene Day celebration and to mark the successful first year completion of the Dibrugarh chapter of Project Sakhi – a ray of hope.

Deputy Commissioner Pallav Gopal Jha inaugurated the webinar, which was organized to send messages to adolescent girls and women related to menstrual health, with special focus on the problems women and adolescent girls are facing amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dibrugarh chapter Project Sakhi – A Ray of Hope – was launched a year ago by the Dibrugarh District Administration in collaboration with ONGC and UNICEF with the aim to foster better scientific menstrual hygiene management for girl students. As part of the project, 23 government girls' schools in Dibrugarh were provided sanitary napkins, vending machines and incinerators.

During the webinar, a number of issues like MHM guidelines during COVID-19, innovative and eco-friendly solutions for menstrual waste disposal at household/institution level, availability and access to safe sanitary absorbents for all, focus on alternate available absorbents during this time, preparation of innovative IEC materials for MHM to reach the most vulnerable section, especially those in the quarantine centres during the times of COVID-19, were discussed along with basic issues related to menstrual hygiene like the need to change sanitary pads every 4-6 hours, maintenance of cleanliness during menstruation to avoid any kind of infection, proper and safe disposal of sanitary napkins/ menstrual cloth.

The webinar was attended by, amongst others, National MHM consultant, UNICEF, Jenifer Selvaraj, Divisional WASH consultant, UNICEF, Swetangana Bhuyan, and other dignitaries. Students and faculty members from Dibrugarh University along with UNICEF consultants at the district and at the State levels also participated in the webinar as a target audience.