By Tasneem Sara | Project Leader
AWARENESS OF ADOLESCENTS' MENSTRUAL HEALTH AND SANITATION IN AHMEDABAD SLUMS, GUJARAT
QUARTERLY REPORT - JANUARY TO MARCH 2018
Adolescence is a critical period during which significant personality reorganization occurs. The spurt and rapid pace with which changes take place in the body and mind of adolescents, generates a number of problems and special needs which adolescents find difficult to understand on their own. Young girls often grow up with limited knowledge of menstruation because their mothers and other women shy away from discussing the issue with them.
In order to bring about increased awareness about menstrual hygiene and promote the use of sanitary napkins among adolescents and women, AWAG initiated the project in 59 villages of Radhanpur and 60 villages of Patan, Gujarat over a span of two years, with the support of GlobalGiving. A total of 4300 adolescents and women have participated in the Awareness Raising workshops that were conducted in these areas.
Recently, based on the success of the above endeavors, AWAG has commenced upon the same project in its work area that fall in the slums of East Ahmedabad.
In order to spread awareness of menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls, meetings were held regularly in the following slums:
A total of 12 awareness raising meetings were conducted across 12 slums covering 157 adolescent girls.
The content of these meetings focused on ......
Through tutorials on menstruation (http://www.awagindia.org/creating-impact/health-awareness/) coupled with dialogue & discussion, a large number of myths and problems of adolescent girls regarding menstrual health and hygiene were demystified by the facilitating team of AWAG. Sanitary napkins were also distributed to all the participating girls.
Very recently AWAG has launched a Mobile App (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awag) in relation to menstrual health and sanitation. This App intends to educate women and girls about menstrual health. It also provides options of chatting with experts through a public and private chat. Women can also avail of low cost sanitary napkins through the App.
The overall response was overwhelming. All the participants stated that they were happy to have gained some new knowledge.
A number of them shared their concerns even after the workshop.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!
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