With the World Menstrual Hygiene Day ahead on May 28, Always launched a new variety of sanitary napkins that triggered up a debate about period poverty in Pakistan.
A social media user posted the picture of a new pack with the caption, ‘They finally made the pads sexy’.
The caption gripped the attention of other users and one of them argued to make them free instead of sexy.
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“Don’t make them sexy, make them FREE!!!, the user urged.
The unavailability of sanitary napkins to all women has been a long-time unheard-of issue in Pakistan and voices have been echoing to ensure its availability to all.
However, the issue has so far failed to grab the attention of concerned authorities in the country.
In Pakistan, mensuration has always been considered a taboo and period poverty is quite prevalent in the country stemming from its patriarchal hierarchy.
Young girls, especially in the rural areas, find it difficult to get menstruation products necessary for health and hygiene.
A UNICEF report revealed that 49% of women in Pakistan have little or no knowledge of periods and more than 20% of young women learn about it in schools.
The sociocultural and financial constraints are also a major factor of period poverty in the country, creating hinderance for women to access requisite products.
The country is in dire need to commence an expanded program to ascertain free availability of sanitary products or the government can abolish taxes on all such products to make them affordable for all.
The concerned authorities are paying no heed to the issue and period poverty is at its peak while it has also risen health complications among women such as Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) due to the use of homemade sanitary napkins.