essence
Vending to distribute sanitary pads to help girls lead healthy lives along with schooling in 50 poor villages in Jharkhand and neighboring Bihar state under ‘Sangini’, an initiative launched by ‘Old Boys Association’ of Netarhat Vidyalaya The machine has been installed.
hear the news
Expansion
For an 11-year-old girl from Hulhundu, about 20 km from Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi, pressing a button means a different kind of freedom and cleanliness. As Savitri Tigga (name changed) inserted a one rupee coin into a new vending machine set up in her village and pressed the button, her face lit up as she received a sanitary napkin.
Sanitary vending machine changed life
Despite being in proximity to the city of Ranchi, Savitri until now had little or no knowledge of menstrual hygiene. Menstruation seemed like a burden to her in her childhood, but after getting sanitary napkins from the vending machine in her village, her life changed.
Initiative of ‘Old Boys Association’ of Netarhat Vidyalaya
Vending to distribute sanitary pads to help girls lead healthy lives along with schooling in 50 poor villages in Jharkhand and neighboring Bihar state under ‘Sangini’, an initiative launched by ‘Old Boys Association’ of Netarhat Vidyalaya The machine has been installed.
Savitri said, “I can buy these napkins now… I can study now… I can buy my pencils and erasers too.” I will not give up my studies.”
42.16 percent population below poverty line
Lack of understanding about menstrual hygiene and lack of access to sanitary pads in their villages is one of the main reasons girls drop out of school in Jharkhand. Here about 42.16 percent of the population is below the poverty line.
Seema Toppo (12), Neeta Tigga (15), Sunny Horo (12), Neelamani Kongari, (14) and Anju Oraon (14) (all names changed) told similar horror stories about how their mother and her period During this sand, ash and plastic were used. Most of the girls said that due to embarrassment they prefer to stay in their huts during menstruation and during this time they lose school and normal life. Most of the girls did not know about sanitary napkins.
Om Prakash Choudhary, advisory member, NOBA GSR (Netarhat Old Boys Association Global Social Responsibility), said, “At the end of last year, a college student had come to NOBA GSR and requested for donations so that she could live in slum areas. to distribute sanitary napkins.
“The student did this work for three months and we supported her. Later we realized that in reality, this system is not sustainable.” Chowdhury said that “When I read about girls who drop out at a young age (due to not getting sanitary napkins), it struck me shook it.”
Let us tell that every year on 28 May, World Menstrual Hygiene Day is celebrated. As per available data, only 36 per cent of the 355 million menstruating women in India use sanitary napkins for their hygiene needs and 70 per cent of households cannot afford sanitary napkins.
“Our target is to install vending machines in 200 villages by the end of the year,” Choudhary said. “Out of 140 crore population of our country, 43 crore women live in rural areas. 4.6 crore rural women can directly benefit from our Sangini initiative, leaving 73 percent women aware of safe menstrual hygiene.