50% use unhygienic material during menstruation
MUMBAI: One out of every two teenage girls in India uses unhygienic materials during menstruation, putting them at risk of infections, according to the Teen Age Girls Report 2018, a new survey conducted by the Naandi Foundation and Nanhi Kali NGO. Researchers said that the findings throw light on how a teenage girl’s reproductive needs is still a low priority.
The survey covered 74,000 girls between the age group of 13 to 19 years over 30 states, for nearly 10 months. Researchers said girls across socio-economic classes were a part of the data collection. Among major metropolis, Mumbai is the best city for teenage girls to live in, as it performed well on parameters such as education, access
to toilets, hygiene, and health indicators.
Rohini Mukherjee, chief policy officer, Naandi Foundation who spearheaded the survey, said the findings were worrisome. “Affordability came up as a very big reason for not using sanitary napkins. We got the same answers
even from well-off homes showing that a low priority is placed on this particular need of teenage girls,” she said.
The findings also revealed that two out of five girls across the country defecate in the open.
“The most common reason in rural areas was that households didn’t have toilets. In places where they did have toilets, they didn’t have running water,” said Mukherjee.
Despite these barriers, girls faired well in education, with 80% pursuing studies, the data showed. Manoj Kumar, chief executive officer,
Naandi Foundation hailed this as good news. “It is very heartening to know that most future mothers would have received at least 10 years of formal schooling,” he said.
Sabah Khan, co-founder, Parcham, an organisation which works with adolescent girls said the findings should prompt the government to rethink its priorities.
“We need budgetary allocations for health provisions which will further the human development index, rather than current wasteful expenditure on advertisements and statues,” she said.