STAFF CORRESPONDENT
DIBRUGARH: Assam Branch of Indian Tea Association (ABITA)-UNICEF celebrated Menstrual Hygiene Day in various tea gardens (ABITA) with the sole objective of creating awareness among the tea garden community on 'Menstrual Hygiene Management'. The theme for this year's MHD was 'Periods in pandemics'. The Menstrual Hygiene Day is an annual event which was initiated in the year 2014 by the German based NGO WASH United which aims to benefit women and girl worldwide through their awareness programme. May 28 was selected as the day to acknowledge that 28 days is the average length of the menstrual cycle.
The objective of this campaign was to spread knowledge and information on making cloth pads maintenance, safe use, proper disposal of menstrual products and proper hygiene management providing the correct knowledge about menstruation and how to maintain personal hygiene.
A week-long programme was conducted by ABITA-UNICEF under the tagline 'Red Dot Challenge' where people from every nook and corner participated expressing their opinions and experiences and posting a photograph with a red dot on their palm. Awareness on the various taboos around menstruation, knowledge and information that menstruation is understood and can be managed safely with confidence and dignity, misguided beliefs and age-old cultural practices, contributing to gender inequity undermining the basic rights were also shared by conducting various activities such as door-to-door visit, drawing, slogan writing, poster making, bracelet making, apron making activity, creation of menstrual wheel, preparation of re-useable cloth pad and WASH awareness.
Apart from this, the team collaborated with the district administration, Dibrugarh in organizing an online Zoom training for the adolescent girls, community mobilizers and teachers on product analysis and preparation of reusable cloth pad at home. A total of 4,500 people were covered in the campaign that was carried out during the menstrual hygiene management week in all zones.