{"id":516329,"date":"2024-07-31T14:48:10","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T17:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=516329"},"modified":"2024-07-31T14:49:43","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T17:49:43","slug":"the-challenge-of-period-poverty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/the-challenge-of-period-poverty\/","title":{"rendered":"The challenge of period poverty"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rovena Rosa \/ Ag\u00eancia Brasil<\/span>At the Espa\u00e7o de Bitita municipal school in S\u00e3o Paulo, a project addressing period poverty provides free menstrual padsRovena Rosa \/ Ag\u00eancia Brasil<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

A report titled \u201cPobreza menstrual no Brasil: desigualdades e viola\u00e7\u00f5es de direitos\u201d (Period poverty in Brazil: Inequalities and rights violations), published jointly by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF), defines period poverty as a phenomenon \u201cexperienced by girls and women due to a lack of access to the financial resources, infrastructure, and knowledge required to effectively manage their periods.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lack of running water for personal hygiene, inadequate restroom facilities, insufficient privacy for changing menstrual hygiene products, and being unable to afford period supplies or medications for pain relief are all examples of period poverty. Women who experience social and economic vulnerability are also adversely affected by the absence of menstrual and reproductive education and the inadequacy of government programs addressing this critical aspect of women\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

See more:<\/strong>
\n\u2013 Biodegradable menstrual pad offers a less polluting alternative<\/a><\/div>\n

In Brazil, only recently has a related federal government initiative come into force \u2014 the Menstrual Dignity Protection and Promotion Program. This program provides free disposable menstrual pads to disadvantaged women, including homeless women and inmates, through the National Healthcare System (SUS). The program is set to benefit 4 million girls and women across 3,500 municipalities.<\/p>\n

The economic, social, and physiological ramifications of period poverty are manifold and often irreversible. Inadequate intimate hygiene leads to missed workdays and school absences; girls are unable to play with friends and their social life is affected.<\/p>\n

A study by the S\u00e3o Paulo-based Instituto Locomotiva, titled \u201cA rela\u00e7\u00e3o das brasileiras com o per\u00edodo menstrual e o fen\u00f4meno da pobreza menstrual\u201d (Brazilian women\u2019s relationship with menstruation and the phenomenon of period poverty), reveals that over 5.5 million working women \u2014 or 19% of the total \u2014 have missed work due to being unable to afford period supplies. UNICEF data indicate that approximately 321,000 students, accounting for 3% of the total female student population in Brazil, attend schools with inadequate restroom facilities. Of these, 121,000 live in Brazil\u2019s Northeast.<\/p>\n

M\u00f4nica Maria de Jesus Silva, a professor of nursing at the Ribeir\u00e3o Preto School of Nursing of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (EERP-USP) and coordinator of the MenstruA\u00c7\u00c3O project, underscores the educational toll of menstrual poverty with a simple calculation. \u201cIf menstruating women miss school whenever they have a period \u2014 typically lasting around five days each \u2014 they would miss approximately 60 school days per year, amounting to nearly 30% of the total academic year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Socks and bread crumb<\/strong>
\nAn estimated 60 million women in Brazil menstruate. According to data from a survey titled \u201cLivre para menstruar\u201d (Free to menstruate), individuals in the bottom 5% income bracket would need to work for up to four years to afford the disposable menstrual pads required throughout their reproductive lifespan \u2014 estimated at approximately 11,000 units.<\/p>\n

In communities with limited access to menstrual products, it is common for individuals to not change these items as frequently as recommended. Consequently, users may be exposed to allergies and diseases such as candidiasis, recurrent urinary tract infections, and bacterial vaginosis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen unable to afford menstrual pads, menstrual cups, or tampons often resort to makeshift solutions to manage their periods, such as using strips of clothing, socks, bread crusts, or makeshift pouches filled with sand or makeup sponges wrapped in newspaper,\u201d Silva explains. However, menstrual poverty is not confined to Brazil or impoverished nations alone. According to the World Bank, at least 500 million women and girls worldwide lack access to adequate facilities to manage their menstrual hygiene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The inability to manage menstruation properly due to poverty causes significant social and economic hardship for millions of women globally","protected":false},"author":748,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[169],"tags":[243],"coauthors":[4722],"class_list":["post-516329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-innovation","position_at_home-sumario"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/748"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516329"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":527214,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516329\/revisions\/527214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516329"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=516329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}