Out in the open: Talking periods at Parliament

No longer a topic whispered about among girls and women, periods and the products associated with them are having a moment in the spotlight.

Following Countdown supermarkets’ announcement that they have dropped the price of their in-house brand tampons and pads, a one-off forum to highlight the prevalence of period poverty has helped connect a number of individuals and organisations all invested in finding solutions.

Moderated by Michele A’Court, the panel – which included Manurewa MP Louisa Wall, as well as representatives from the Salvation Army, Countdown and KidsCan – shared the dire situations many Kiwi females are facing.

‘‘I think the one that has shocked me the most is [that] some girls even take the pill now to stop their bleeding,’’ KidsCan chief executive Julie Chapman said. ‘‘These are our babies and we’re talking really young girls, who are doing whatever they can to avoid having to deal with their periods.’’

She said the situation ‘‘shocking’’ but unsurprising. ‘‘We’ve been aware of this issue [and] we’ve started putting sanitary items into schools about five years ago but we’ve seen it progressively get worse, in particular this issue.’’ Last April, Pharmac rejected a request to fund all women’s sanitary items, with the Government drug-buying agency saying sanitary products were not medicines. However, Wall said Sarah Donovan from the Department of Public Health at Otago University was working on another application which would quantify how many women are affected by period poverty in New Zealand. ‘‘I think her application, which will be so robust and evidencebased, has a better chance at being successful,’’ Wall said. Yesterday, Countdown announced it had reduced the price of 15 of its Homebrand and Select range of tampon and pad products. was