Sanitation for Dignity, Environmental Hygiene & Women Empowerment
Menstrual Hygiene Management Consortium (MHMC) formed on 8th march 2010 works to improve the status and quality of life of Women and adolescent girls by adoption of healthy and hygienic menstrual Management practices. It has been registered with Registrar of Societies of Tiruchirapalli.
Mrs. Shantha Sheela Nair, I.A.S., Officer (Rtd.)
She initiated women friendly sanitation programs in Trichy region when she was District Collector in Trichy in 1982. She brought the Menstrual Hygiene issue to public discussion. She stressed that training on Sanitary napkins must include training on safe disposal including the use of incinerators. She said that the Rural Development Department also has a major role to paly in the involvement of SHGs in the Menstrual Hygiene initiative.
MHMC was formed with the collective support of various stakeholders particularly the NGOs and other institutions who work on MHM promotion, sanitary napkin production, and who have a commitment and involvement in working for the cause of MHM.
MHMC Focuses on
- To promote Ten point Trichy declaration and MHMC.
- To help SHGs to make cost effective and Hygienic Sanitary Napkins.
- To promote women friendly toilets in all Public places in close coordination with all Stakeholders including the Government.
- To ensure clean and hygienic environment By safe disposal of used napkins.
- To Sensitize the policy makers on sanitation, health and hygiene at the local and national level on the role of good MHM Practices and incorporate them in all government policy and programmes.
- To Remove the social stigma and cultural taboos attached to menstruation, intensive IEC information education communication) campaign with convergence of various government departments and other related agencies.
- To focus on enhancing the status of girl child by integrating health and hygiene education at all levels and ensuring the availability of girl / women friendly hygienic infrastructure facilities.
- To educate and emphasize the need for environmentally friendly, hygienic and safe disposal of used napkins at all levels.
- To Create awareness among anti-natal and post-natal mothers and to ensure availability of maternity pads at the time of delivery with proper disposal mechanism at primary health centers and all hospitals.
- To Sensitize the media and thereby the public on MHM.
- To create a Common Platform for exchanging ideas between the self Heap Groups (SHG), Community Based Organizations (CBO), Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) and different like-minded Organizations.
- To Coordinate with different Government departments and existing schemes for promotion and micro enterprise development for Sanitary Napkin Production. Priority will be given to SHGs to take loans with differential interest rates to setup new Sanitary Napkin Production units.
- To Promote a Women's Hygiene Network, to get the support of all the departments to mainstream Menstrual Hygiene Management and launch a website on MHM issues as well as resources related to sanitary napkin production, including cost-effective technologies, incinerator models, etc. To Celebrate 27th November as International Women's Hygiene Day.