Making Menstrual Hygiene a Priority

A group of volunteers from UPES have been striving to spread awareness about the use of sanitary napkins in the slums around the campus.

I started 3d Youth Films Group with a vision to help the society. Gradually, as time passed, many students came forward and joined hands. Now, 3d Youth Films Group is a family of more than 50 student volunteers.

The journey of this initiation started with a focus on the safety and education of women which simultaneously led to an idea of organising a sanitary drive in March 2019. Our team went to a slum area and distributed sanitary pads to the women and educated them about the use and advantages of the same.

This was followed by more such initiatives and soon the locals started praising the effort. It became a huge motivation for the team. To our surprise, more than half of the women in the slums were aware of the use of sanitary pads and they used them too on a regular basis. But there were also those families that found it hard and uncomfortable to talk with us on the subject of periods and the use of sanitary napkins. Our team spent a lot of time with them, explaining the importance of hygiene and encouraging them to use sanitary pads. Interestingly, majority of the men were supportive and cooperative, though a few hesitated to allow us to interact with their wives and daughters.

It was an eye-opening experience for the whole team as everyone involved in this drive learnt something new, irrespective of their age and gender. This drive fulfilled the main motive of the group to bring about a change in the society and hence became one of the most fruitful drives ever done by the group.

The success of the sanitary drives created a vibe of positivity in each member of the group. So far, we have organised more than four drives mainly, focusing on sanitary pads and women’s safety and we really hope that we can keep on working towards bettering lives.