Held on Saturday morning, a high-level panel discussion took place in the Menstrual Health Management and Sustainable Periods webinar conducted by Zero Waste Maldives in collaboration with Society for Health Education (SHE), supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), was aimed to formulate a dialogue on conducive environments for adolescents and girls to manage their menstrual health. It saw participation from government policy makers, health sector representatives and advocates and civil society organizations.
The #PeriodVaakahaka campaign is aimed to spread awareness on the natural process of menstruation and break the stigmas and taboos about communicating openly on the issues around the topic. First Lady, Fazna Ahmed took part in the discussion and spoke on various areas of the topic.
Her discussions threw light on menstrual health and wellness, focusing on efforts to subdue the stigma surrounding menstruation in society by increasing puberty awareness. First Lady stressed on the importance of educating our young girls with age-appropriate information and the correct terminology about the process of menstruation, personal hygiene during the periods and also, the affects on the environment by the products she chooses to use.
The First Lady’s insightful pointers on how when described in Dhivehi language, puberty imposes the tag of an adult on a child of roughly 7-12 years of age who undergo menstruation. She discussed on the dire need to break this taboo, and creating more appropriate terms so that even the children can communicate their feelings and express their thoughts accurately. This will go a long way in bridging the communication gap when talking openly about taboo topics such as menstruation.
Further in the discussion, First Lady urged the importance of educating students early by integrating puberty awareness into the school curriculum on a policy level, with parental consent.