DRISHTEE TIMES

Submitted by- Dr Minal Singh (AVP-Healthcare)

She was a pale girl of 17-18 years with lean body and small stature standing behind one of the pillars of the village school. This school was the venue for our community mobilization meeting for need of sanitary napkins and other hygiene issues. As, I was responding to the last few question asked by elder females, I could feel her eyes constantly staring me.  I could read that she wanted little more privacy to discuss and so, I approached her once we dispersed the meeting.

She was feeling shy to talk to me. To break the ice, I complimented about her scarf and she looked up to find out if it was a genuine remark. With a faint smile, she explained that she has knitted it herself. As we talked, she said she wanted me to prescribe medicine for some recurrent fever that she had for last three months accompanied by excessive bleeding and menstruation cramps.

Three months of continuous fever without medical treatment. I was surprised as to why she never went to see a doctor. Her mother stopped her from discussing this with others due to social stigma. I talked to her in depths and found that she was suffering from vaginal infection.Pain of her life was simple infection which could be treated by an antibiotic had become. Tears rolled down as she explained her condition to me. She has been using single piece of cloth during menstruation for years which was shared by all the females in her family.

Sad but true, this is the truth for females in rural India. There is not enough cloth to cover their bare bodies or money to enough food, making a disposable cloth for each cycle completely unaffordable. Sharing single cloth and then drying it in a dark place where no one else can see it. As results, they suffer from lifelong infections and pain which they have adopted as part of their ill fates.

Who has the answer to this problem? How should we prioritize the solutions? What should the plan our intervention? Employment, Nutrition, Family planning or Health or a piece of clean cloth. What is the biggest need?