‘Period poverty’ is the term used when there is a lack of sanitary products, and other essentials like toilets with clean water due to financial constraints in the region. According to the report, most of the schools in South Asia fell short of the WHO standards of one toilet for every 25 girls. “Governments simply need to ensure that every school has clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.”With taboos and superstitions in different countries, even an open discussion in schools is impossible and about 71% of girls in India are unaware about menstruation before their first period. The report calls on government agencies and NGOs to increase efforts to provide proper sanitation. Movies like PadMan and #YesIBleed campaign caused a small stir in the country, but still statistics say that in India 60% of adolescent girls missed school on account of menstruation and about 80% still use home-made pads.

Source: The Hindu May 28, 2018 06:44 UTC