This document provides information from a presentation on menstrual hygiene and awareness. It discusses the need for menstrual hygiene education, defines key terms like menstrual cycle and the hormones involved. It describes menstrual cycle patterns and hygiene practices. It emphasizes the importance of maintaining hygiene during menstruation to prevent infections and promote health. It discusses appropriate disposal techniques for menstrual waste and strategies to manage waste.

1. Awareness Programme on
Menstrual Hygiene
Dr.Nikhil Kumar Vanjari
Doctor of Pharmacy,
Diabetes Educator,
Clinical Assistant Professor,
Vaageswari College of Pharmacy
Karimnagar.

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3. Need of the Session?
1. Menstruation and menstrual practices still face many social, cultural, and religious restrictions which are a big
barrier in the path of menstrual hygiene management.
2. In many parts of the country especially in rural areas girls are not prepared and aware about menstruation so they
face many difficulties and challenges at home, schools, and work places.
3. Girls and women have very less or no knowledge about reproductive tract infections caused due to ignorance
of personal hygiene during menstruation time.
4. In rural areas, women do not have access to sanitary products or they know very little about the types and
method of using them or are unable to afford such products due to high cost. So, they mostly rely on reusable
cloth pads which they wash and use again.
5. So, there should be a need to educate and make them aware about the environmental pollution and health
hazards associated with them.
6. Implementation of modern techniques like incineration can help to reduce the waste.
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4. What is Menstrual Cycle?
1. The menstrual cycle is the regular natural change that occurs in the female reproductive system
(specifically the uterus and ovaries) that makes pregnancy possible.
2. The cycle is required for the production of oocytes, and for the preparation of the uterus for
pregnancy.
3. The menstrual cycle occurs due to the rise and fall of hormones. This cycle results in the thickening of
the lining of the uterus, and the growth of an egg, (which is required for pregnancy).
4. The egg is released from an ovary around day fourteen in the cycle; the thickened lining of the
uterus provides nutrients to an embryo after implantation.If pregnancy does not occur, the lining is
released in what is known as menstruation.
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5. What are the Hormones involved and their functions?
1. Estrogen- Discharge of blood –menstruation/period
2. Luteinizing Hormone- release of ovum- female egg
3. Progesterone- implantation of embryo for pregnancy
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6. What is the Onset and duration of Menstrual Cycle?
1. The first period usually begins between 12 and 15 years of age, a point in time
known as menarche. They may occasionally start as early as eight, and this
onset may still be normal.
2. The typical length of time between the first day of one period and the first day of
the next is 21 to 45 days in young women and 21 to 35 days in adults (an
average of 28 days).
3. Menstruation stops occurring after menopause which usually occurs between
45 and 55 years of age.
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7. What is Ovary and Uterus?
1. Ovary-The ovary is needed in reproduction since it is responsible for producing
the female reproductive cells or ova.
2. Uterus -The ovaries produce the eggs that travel through the fallopian tubes.
Once the egg has left the ovary it can be fertilized and the embryo grows to
baby in the lining of the uterus. 7

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15. What are the Common Symptoms during period?
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17. How to deal with the symptoms?
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20. General length of the Menstrual cycle based on age
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21. How to deal with menstrual flow ?
The options available are:
1. Disposable sanitary pads: these are often times made of cotton/foam (bleached) or unbleached
cotton with absorbent core. These are meant for single use only.
2. Reusable cloth pads: made of cloth that can be washed, dried and reused.
While selecting any of the above, you also have to ensure that your preferred device prevents the flow
from spoiling your clothes.
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22. How to use the sanitary pads?
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23. ??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
● There is no need to feel overwhelmed or feel dirty during these days, because periods are a
natural process of the body, just like yawning, sneezing, hunger or thirst, etc.
● The only thing you need to do is take special care of your body’s hygiene and avoid
unwanted infections during this time.
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24. What all can happen if hygiene is not maintained?
 During the periods, the area around the genitals is moist, whether
you use a disposable pad or a reusable pad, there is a possibility of
several types of infections if the area remains damp for too long.
 This infection can cause itching and irritation in the vagina. Due to
this dampness, rashes in the along the line of innerwear area are
also common.
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25. Why to Maintain hygiene during menstrual cycle?
1. Menstrual hygiene is significant in ensuring that your everyday life
does not get interrupted by menstruation-school/work/daily activities.
2. Prevention of possible Urinary tract Infections, if left untreated
could cause kidney infection.
3. Maintaining proper hygiene also ensures that you never run into
potential situations of embarrassment and hence makes you feel
confident about yourself and your body.
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26. How to Maintain hygiene during menstrual cycle?
Staying healthy and active:
1. Leading a healthy and stress free life can keep your menstrual cycle regular and periodical.
2. On the contrary, an unhealthy lifestyle can disrupt your menstrual cycle and it becomes difficult
to predict your next period.
3. A balanced diet including appropriate amounts of essential nutrients also plays an important role in
regularizing your periods and help maintain a healthy physical and mental wellbeing.
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27. How to Maintain hygiene during menstrual cycle?
Prepare yourself for the periods:
1. You can record your period dates in a calendar. To have them closer to you, those using
computers or smartphones can download period tracking applications and record their dates.
2. You must carry a pad with you nearing your period dates so you are not caught off-guard
when your period start suddenly.
3. Wearing a Inner wares with liner a few days before your periods start will not only help in
absorbing the discharge before menstruation but will also absorb the initial flow if the cycle
starts suddenly. Liners can come quite handy when you are travelling. Being slim in size, they
easily fit in the purse.
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28. How to Maintain hygiene during menstrual cycle?
General Hygiene:
1. Taking bath at least once a day
2. Washing the genital area with a mild intimate wash at least once a day and washing it every time
you use toilet
3. Using clean undergarments and changing them regularly
4. Preferably a cotton undergarment should be worn as cotton allows the skin to breath and doesn’t
restrict the air flow
5. Changing the pads regularly
If not taken care, bad hygiene can lead to various infections
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29. 5 Things Everyone Should Know About Menstrual Hygiene
1.Choose The Right Sanitation Method-
● With so many different hygiene options available to choose from, we’re absolutely spoiled for choice
in the market. It is recommended that you stick to a single brand and a single method for some
time to see if it suits your need.
2.Remember To Change Every 4 To 6 Hours-
● In order to maintain vaginal hygiene it is recommended that you change them every 4-6 hours.
● The blood released during periods is the best place for certain microbes and bacteria to flourish and
multiply, increasing chances of vaginal infections or infection in the urinary tract.
● Women with heavy bleeding should change it more frequently.
● it’s important that you change it in order to avoid TSS (toxic shock syndrome).
● TSS (a condition in which a tampon is left inserted in the body for long, allowing bacteria to
break into the body causing severe infection).
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30. 5 Things Everyone Should Know About Menstrual Hygiene
3.Trust Water
● The best free resource that you can trust always is water. Try to keep yourself as clean as
possible, especially during your periods.
● Washing with soaps would kill the good bacteria present in the vagina and would disharmonize
the pH balance too. In order to stay safe and clean, trust water and nothing else.
● Washing properly with a right technique is equally important. Wash from up (vagina) to down (anus)
and do not do the inverse else the bacteria from the anus might cling to your vagina and wouldn’t get
washed-off increasing chances of infection.
4.Disinfect Your Inner wear In Case Of A Stain
● It’s normal to get a stain during your periods. It doesn’t happen all the time but when it happens
make sure you change your innerwear immediately and disinfect it before wearing it again. It is not
advisable to continue walking around when your underwear is stained with your period blood. Keep
extra pairs with you when you are at work.
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31. 5 Things Everyone Should Know About Menstrual Hygiene
5.Disposing Off Your Pads Properly
● The way it’s essential for you to be careful about your hygiene while you’re on your periods, it’s
equally important to dispose -off the used pads as they may cause infection and create foul
smell. Do not flush the pads down the sewer as it can clog the toilets. Wrap the used pads safely in
a piece of paper before throwing it into the bin.
● Do not forget to wash your hands once you have disposed off the pad
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34. What does a Sanitary napkin contain?
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35. India’s Sanitary Pad Problem
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36. How much waste of sanitary pads is being generated?
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37. What are the Menstrual Waste Disposal Techniques Used by Women?
1. Appropriate disposal of used menstrual material is still lacking in many countries of the
worldToilet facilities in India lack bins for the disposal of sanitary pads and hand washing
facilities for menstruating women to handle menstrual hygiene.
2. In rural areas, mostly women use reusable and non-commercial sanitary materials like reusable
pads or cloths. Thus, they generate lesser amount of menstrual waste as compared to women in
urban areas who rely on commercial disposable pads.
3. In urban areas, where modern disposable menstrual products are used they dispose of them by
flushing in toilets and throwing in dustbins or through solid waste management.
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38. What are the Menstrual Waste Disposal Techniques Used by Women?
4. In schools, due to lack of sanitary facilities, girls throw their pads in toilets.
5. In some cases, girls threw away their used menstrual clothes without washing them.
6. Also many were reported being absent from work/ school/college during their period due to lack of
disposal system, broken lock/doors of toilets, lack of water tap, bucket, and poor water supply .
7. At home, they dispose the waste by wrapping and throwing in the dustbin along with other domestic
waste.
8. In public places, prior to having knowledge about the consequences of flushing the pads, they flush
them in the toilets or wrap and throw them in the dustbins.
9.Where dustbins are not placed they leave the soiled pads wrapped or unwrapped in the toilet
corners. This makes the toilets dirty, breeding place for flies and mosquitoes, and also unhygienic
for other toilet users and cleaners.
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39. What are the Consequences of Menstrual Waste Disposal?
● Materials clog the sewer pipelines
● Disturb the soil microflora and decomposition takes time
● Water bodies get contaminated.
● Materials soaked with blood are breeding places for germs and pathogenic microbes .
● Sanitary products soaked with blood of an infected women/girl may contain hepatitis and HIV
viruses which retain their infectivity in soil and live up to six months in soil.
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40. What are the Strategies for the Management of Menstrual Waste?
● The toilets must be designed and built to be girl/women friendly .
In Kerala, some schools have installed sanitary napkin vending machines in toilets which are
semiautomatic and operate by inserting a coin in it. It contains 30–50 sanitary napkins to meet the
emergency needs of the girls/women in schools.
● There should be a separate collection system for the menstrual wastes without affecting the
privacy and dignity of women.
● Dustbins should be covered by lid and emptied from time to time to keep the toilets clean from
flies, mosquitoes, and bad odour.
● there must be water availability, toilet paper, dustbin, and a sink to wash menstrual products.
● proper safety tools should be provided to the cleaners so that they are not exposed to pathogenic
organisms and harmful gases.
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42. What are the Better Ways/Ideas of Disposing Menstrual Wastes?
Incinerators
●If incinerators are used according to ecofriendly guidelines they create less pollution. They should be operated at certain
specific temperature around 800°C so that they emit less harmful gasses. They should be installed in schools, institutions,
and slum areas and at community level
Reusable Cloth Pads
●Using these reusable cloth pads is a better option as they have less chemical and plastic content. So they are easily
decomposable as compared to other commercial products.
Biodegradable Products
●Commercial sanitary product manufacturing companies must manufacture products having lesser chemical and plastic
content. Pads made from bamboo fibre, banana fibre, water hyacinth, and sea sponges should be encouraged.
Clay or Cemented Incinerators
●Clay and cement incinerators used in Gujrat villages by “Vatsalya Foundation” are a welcomed step in menstrual
hygiene management.
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46. Sheela Singh with the low-cost incinerator at her terrace.
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47. Sunita Kanojia with her mud incinerator
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48. Role of Men/Boys towards Menstrual Hygiene
Management
● Men can support and influence women and girls in managing menstruation in households,
schools, work, and community through many roles as husbands, fathers, brothers, students,
teachers, colleagues, leaders, and policymakers.
In India, a man named “Arunachalam Muruganantham” known as “India’s Menstrual Man” develops an
inexpensive and environment-friendly machine which produces semibiodegradable sanitary pads.
● Men can help women and girls by constructing toilets, incinerators, and latrines with chutes at
homes and schools and at community level.
● At household level, they help by providing toilet facilities with privacy, water, and soap and by
giving them money for menstrual products. 48

49. Role of Teachers/Management in Creating Awareness regarding
Menstruation and Menstrual Waste Management
● In schools, teachers can make the school environment girl/women friendly to manage
menstruation with dignity.
● Menstruation is a silent issue in girl’s life which is further affected by teacher’s attitude, school
environment, and infrastructure. Because of this. many girls remain absent from schools
during this time.
● . Teachers should educate girls about menstrual health management and its link to their
health. They should also make girl students aware of how to dispose of used menstrual products
at home and in schools, providing safe environment and privacy
● provide dustbins for menstrual waste disposal.
● Open discussions
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51. AWARENESS ABOUT PERIODS LEADS TO
 BETTER REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
 GREATER SELF-ESTEM AND CONFIDENCE
 BETTER ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
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52. This Oscar-winning documentary is a must-watch for Indians. Period End of Sentence
● It was a huge win for women everywhere when a documentary about menstruation, shot in a country
like India, scored an Oscar win. Period End of Sentence showed the world what many already knew
but was also a revelation for some—there are women who have to give up important things like
education and work for something as normal and natural as their monthly period.
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53. The mission to spread awareness about menstruation has been on everyone's checklist lately, including
Bollywood. It came out with Padman, casting mainstream actors like Akshay Kumar, Radhika Apte and
Sonam Kapoor in a film based on real life hero Arunachalam Muruganantham, inventor of a low-cost
sanitary pad-making machines.
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54. “A PERIOD IS A SIGN OF HEALTH AND FERTLITY”
Thank you
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