Napkin collecting record by Jamshedpur NGO

 Context :- 

Jamshedpur-based social outfit Nischay’s work of collecting 5,000 sanitary napkin packets to promote menstrual hygiene among rural schoolgirls will be soon recorded in Limca Book of Records 2019.  The social outfit has received a confirmation email from Limca Book of Record Entries that their record of collecting 5,000 sanitary napkins within a time frame of two months and 12 days will be featured in the in the 2019 edition of Limca Book of Records. Alongside, Nischay raised awareness in 14 government schools across three blocks Ghatshila, Potka and Jamshedpur of the East Singhbhum district among schoolgirls to use pads instead of unhygienic cloth. These included Tangrain middle school, Khukradih high school and Mahulia Adarsh Madhya Vidyalaya in Ghatshil

Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) :-

• ‘SUVIDHA’ – Rs. 2.50, 100% Oxo-biodegradable Sanitary Napkin :- Government announced the launch of ‘Suvidha’, the 100% Oxo-biodegradable Sanitary Napkin, under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP), here today. The affordable sanitary napkin will be available for Rs. 2.50 per padat over 3200 Janaushadhi Kendrasacross India and would ensure ‘Swachhta, Swasthya and Suvidha’for the underprivileged Women of India. This step taken by the Department of Pharmaceuticals will ensure the achievement of Prime Minster Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of Affordable and Quality Healthcare for All.
• This unique product would ensure Affordability, Hygiene aa well as Ease of use and disposal for them.SUVIDHA napkins would be physically available at all Janaushadhi Kendras in the country by May 28, 2018 – World Menstrual Hygiene Day, the Minister informed.
• According to the National Family Health Survey 2015-16, about 58 percent of women aged between 15 to 24 years use locally prepared napkins, sanitary napkins and tampons. Further, about 78 percent women in urban areas use hygienic methods of protection during menstrual period; only 48 percent women in rural areas have access to clean sanitary napkins.
• This is one of the most important requirement in ensuring the Health Security to that section of Women in India who still use unhygienic aids during menstrualperiod due to non-affordability of some of the popular brands of sanitary napkins available in the markettoday. Such unhygienic aids cause fungal infections, Reproductive Tract Infection, Urinary TractInfection, Cervical cancer and also make women vulnerable to infertility. Moreover, the disposal of non-biodegradable sanitary napkins available today creates a huge environmental problem.
• A  special additive is added in the SUVIDHA napkin which makes it biodegradable when it reacts with oxygen after it is used and discarded. The average price of sanitary napkins available in the market today is around Rs. 8 per pad, whereas now with the launch of the SUVIDHA napkins at Rs. 2.50 per pad, this will go a long way in making the basic hygiene requirement aid for Women affordable for the underprivileged sections.

By: Shashank Shekhar