Hyderabad: Unaffordability leads to women depend on volunteers

Hyderabad: Due to unaffordability, women, especially in the rural areas, have stopped purchasing the essential commodity like sanitary napkins which has further stopped in manufacturing and has created a shortage in rural areas.

With no proper income, they are more concerned with buying ration rather than buying sanitary napkins. Left with no other choice, they are dependent on volunteers to supply sanitary napkins.

According to volunteers in the city, though the Rs 500 that the government is providing is not enough to fulfil the basic needs and the women have to choose between rations or sanitary napkins.

Kolipaka Spurthi, a menstrual literacy advocate and a volunteer of 'Women Commission Matters', Hyderabad, has received more than 800 requests from women for cloth pads during the lockdown period.

Speaking to The Hans India, Spurthi said, "There has been a surge in the number of requests received through NGOs from the month of March. Since it is more than 40 days, the funds and other resources are expiring now, so now we are promoting the use of the cloth pads as it will be affordable and they do not have to buy it regularly."

She further adds, "A problem that the volunteers have been facing problems in distributing them is that most of them end up giving one pack which has around 7 units which is not enough. They need at least 3 pack for one cycle. Those migrant workers staying at the camps also face issues due to no proper waste management or disposal and privacy."

Another city-based volunteer, Mandadi Shravya Reddy Deshmukh, who is the founder of 'We and She' foundation said, "Since the lockdown has begun we have donated these sanitary napkins to more than 2500 young girls and women as well. However, there are also many women we have come across who are not much aware of using these sanitary napkins. Lack of awareness in some places and lack of sanitary may force women to go back to using cotton cloths. If women go back to the practice of using cloths, especially during this pandemic, the infection levels can go up alarmingly."

Sneha Rooh, a Palliative Physician by profession, menstrual activist and founder of Orikalankini NGO, along with her team have distributed around 800 reusable pads to migrant workers, labourers and underprivileged women in areas around Miyapur and Moosapet.

Sneha further said, "Lack of sanitary pads for one cycle can cause a lot of danger to a woman. We are making sure that people have plenty of food, medicines and masks but periods don't stop for pandemics. When women think that they need to buy ration instead of sanitary napkins, the decision is silent but can lead to a huge impact on the health of the women."