Safest products and clean bathrooms are essential for any woman during her period. But there is a group where these two are unattainable. Homeless women. Sanitary pads and tampons are out of reach for them, who have to struggle even for early meals. They may not be able to take into account the cleanliness of the products beyond using the products that are available in the necessary situations. This is the situation of homeless women everywhere in the world. Now a study by the University of Southampton reveals the menstrual woes of homeless women in the UK, US, Canada, and Nepal. The study information has been shared in the journal Women and Health.
This is the first study to shed light on such a problem. The study shows that the women living on the streets are forced to use sponges, old clothes, and even single-use products, as they cannot afford sanitary pads or tampons. They often do not get permission to enter public toilets and it creates a lot of difficulty during menstruation days. Due to this, it is also impractical to use menstrual cups that can be used for a long time once purchased.
Many women depend only on toilet paper, which they get for a meager amount during their periods. Although they are well aware of the infection caused by such habits, the cost of drugs to prevent it is too much for them to afford. Few people depend on cheap herbal medicines. But none of these yield sufficient results. The only relief they get in such crises is the help they get from charity organizations and council services. But this too may not be available exactly at the required times.
They are forced to either steal sanitary pads from shops or skip meals and use that money to buy pads There is a general perception that women who end up sleeping on the streets are drug addicts. Therefore, there is a situation where they are denied access even to toilets that can be used for a small fee. public toilets in many countries are extremely unsanitary. So they have to experience unparalleled difficulty when changing pads…
Many homeless women suffer from serious diseases due to not being able to clean their bodies at regular intervals. In addition to all this, the lack of facilities to cleanly wash and dry menstrual blood-stained clothes remains a problem. Although there are a few systems that provide free menstrual products, homeless women are not adequately catered for. The solution proposed by the researchers is to end the existing restrictions on the availability of menstrual hygiene products to homeless women and take appropriate measures to provide them with pads and medicines at a reasonable price or for free every month.
Although the study was conducted in certain areas, the researchers who participated in the study said that this is a problem faced by homeless women globally. They call this condition ‘Period Poverty’. In India, period poverty is not confined to homeless women. Some studies indicate that 36 to 43 percent of women in India follow unhygienic menstrual habits . Poor menstrual hygiene is the main cause of many reproductive health problems.