Belapur: The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s (NMMC) public health department which has been conducting a number of workshops to inform and educate citizens recently conducted a workshop for the teen aged girls in its school about menstruation (monthly periods).
The aim of the workshop was to educate various health related changes that occurs in teen aged girls who are at the age of attending puberty. The workshop also aimed at educating girls who have already started their menstruation to know what happens to one’s body during the menstruation days.
A self-help group, ‘Safe and Happy Periods’ based at Navi Mumbai conducted the workshop.
Over 3,000 girl students between the age group of 11 to 15 years and teachers attended the one-day workshop.
“Monthly periods are a natural occurrence among women. Girls in the age group of 11 to 15 sometimes face problems during such periods. Often it is because of ignorance and sometimes by superstition. Their mothers rarely find time to sit with the daughters and advice them about the proper course of action to be followed thus an awareness workshop was conducted recently,” said an official from NMMC.
“The word periods are a taboo till date. However, one needs to understand the biological reason behind menstruation and other things related to it like hygiene, how to tackle the periods pain with simple yoga asanas for the teen girls. The teachers were taught about yoga asanas for healthy uterus and how to tackle the menopause. The focus has been on painless and healthy periods. The participants were also told about the use of sanitary napkins and their safe disposal after use,” said Sarika Gupta founder and facilitator, Safe N Happy Periods.
So far, we have conducted 24 workshops which have been attended by about 3,000 students and teachers, said Gupta.
As a complementary exercise, NMMC had even set up vending machines for sanitary napkins at Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj School, Rabale five months ago and now has also installed at Vishnudas Bhave Auditorium at Vashi, Navi Mumbai and at NMMC headquarters. “We are planning to set up more such machines in other places,” said an official from NMMC.