Assam to distribute sanitary napkins as flood relief

Order said menstrual management during emergencies faced by women have remained unattended as a relief measure

The Assam government has added sanitary napkins to the list of relief materials to be distributed among women and adolescent girls affected by floods and other natural disasters, paying heed to the demands of Activist Mayuri Bhattacharjee who had started an online campaign in February 2019.

The issue had turned out to be somewhat embarrassing in August last year when young Mayuri delivered a packet of 300 sanitary pads to the Chief of Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) and Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was then the health minister and now Chief Minister.

More than a two-year-long campaign for women-friendly flood relief camps borne fruits as ASDMA finally instructed all districts to include sanitary pads in the list of relief materials to be provided in the flood relief camps.

"I was so thrilled when I received a personal message from the ASDMA about this notification. I am relieved that adolescent girls and women of my state will have one thing less to worry about while battling floods during a pandemic because as we know periods don’t stop for floods or a pandemic. And now we can put an end to their suffering," 34-year-old Mayuri, originally from Tezpur in North Assam's Sonitour district told DH on Tuesday.

The ASDMA last week issued tenders for procuring sanitary pad vending machines and incinerators for building women-friendly relief camps.

Assam Disaster Management Manual 2015 has guidelines for a gender-sensitive approach, but the same has remained unimplemented on the ground during floods that leaves thousands homeless almost every year.

"Menstrual hygiene management issues faced by women and adolescent girls in flood-prone districts is something which remained unattended in relief measures," ASDMA admitted in its notification issued on May 25.

In the online campaign, "Dignity in Floods" she launched on Change.org in 2019, Mayuri asked the state government to set up at least 50 model women-friendly flood shelters in 10 flood-prone districts with sanitary pads in the list of relief materials.

"I consider this as a landmark decision in the disaster management history in our country. A state government now acknowledges that sanitary napkins are essential relief item just like food grains and shelter during floods. This announcement is a huge step because menstruation is still a taboo topic and our society hesitates to talk openly about it," Mayuri said.

The campaign was launched following a field study Mayuri's NGO, Sikun Relief Foundation had carried out in flood-prone Sonitpur, Biswanath and Nagaon districts following the serious floods in 2017 and 2018. Most of the flood-hit women she spoke to shared their ordeal in relief camps due to the lack of sanitary pads and separate toilets.