Women work in a low cost sanitary napkin factory in Shatkhira, Bangladesh (Picture: Getty)
Desperation at a lack of safe sanitation is driving women and girls to intentionally stop their periods.
Instead of trying to deal with bleeding without anywhere clean to wash themselves or do laundry, some are turning to medication instead, taking hormonal contraceptives back-to-back so their menstrual cycle is disrupted or using other potentially risky pills.
The issue was highlighted to the UK government by youth ambassador for Water Aid, Samia Anwar Rafa, who visited London last month to present an open letter to Keir Starmer.
She told how in some areas of the world, ‘you open the tap and there’s no water to drink or use’ due to water sources drying up, while deadly heatwaves and destructive cyclones have destroyed sanitation systems.
‘‘Even in calmer times, increased salinity due to climate change is making water sources unusable,’ her letter reads.
‘In desperation, some girls start taking contraceptive pills at an early age to stop their periods and avoid the risk of infections, something that in the long run could have associated health risks.’
Rafa delivering her open letter to the UK government (Picture: Water Aid)
In Kalabogi village in southern Bangladesh, the main type of latrines used are hanging toilets which are regularly overflowed with tidewater and badly impacted by cyclones (Picture: Habibul Haque/Drik /WaterAid Bangladesh)
Rafa told Metro that many women cannot access sanitary pads, and use rags instead which they wash and reuse.
In southwestern Bangladesh, where water has become more saline, partly due to sea level rise, they are forced to wash these cloths in salty water which then irritates their skin and increases the rate of infection, as well as causing severe itching.
‘In Bangladesh, I am seeing my community suffering with the lack of access to water every day and climate change intensifying the extent of it,’ Rafa said. ‘It’s taking away people’s lives, it’s taking away people’s livelihoods, and it’s putting them in a position that’s very hard for them.’
In the south west, where saltwater prawn farming is a major industry, the issue of women seeking to stop their periods has been particularly highlighted.
One girl living here, aged 15, told journalist Jesmin Papri in Bangladeshi newspaper the Daily Star: ‘During my periods, I always used pieces of old rags which I washed with dirty and salty water. I’ve seen my mother suffer from uterine diseases for a long time. I do not want to experience the same thing.’
To avoid having to wash with saline water, she told how a neighbour gave her birth control pills so she could stop her period altogether, which she had done for five months at the time of the interview.
Two of her friends had also done the same thing, which the newspaper said were just a few cases of a widespread issue of people taking the pills ‘without any medical advice’.
A woman collects water for washing from a nearby pond in Satkhira, Bangladesh
Dr Farhana Dewan, secretary-general of the …read more
Source:: Metro
