How India's COVID Lockdowns Impacted Menstrual Health
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24 February 2024 15:00 WIB
By: Karan Babbar, OP Jindal Global University in Sonipat.
Limited access to period products during India’s COVID lockdowns highlighted how far public health initiatives have to go when it comes to menstruation.
Indian women used far fewer sanitary pads, tampons, and other period products during COVID-19 lockdowns — with those items becoming hard to access due to not being initially included on the essential items list.
For those in the red zones — the districts under the strictest lockdown measures — research reveals a 53 percent decline in the distribution of sanitary pads to adolescent girls, compared to girls in green zones under the lightest lockdown measures.
Consumption dropped 16 percent in the most strictly locked-down districts of India during 2020. In rural districts alone, it dropped 25 percent.
"Accessing pads in the lockdown was a major crisis for us in the village because the shops in the market were shut and there was no other source to avail it from,” one 19-year-old living in the village of Hardiya in the eastern state of Bihar said.
Her solution was to band together with a group of friends to try to source the products for their village.
The cost of period products soared during lockdowns too.
"Since disposable pads were not available easily, this led to black marketing,” one 27-year-old professional said. “I had to pay almost double the price to procure the product."
Period poverty — the lack of access to resources and education linked to menstrual health and hygiene, including essential items like period products, washing facilities, and proper waste management — has long been a pressing concern in India.
Its roots can be traced back to patriarchal notions that label menstruation as impure and dirty, restricting the freedom of those who menstruate during their periods.
Despite global recognition of menstrual health as a public health and human rights issue, period poverty continues to taint the experiences of the individuals who menstruate in India.
This prompted the government to initiate a Menstrual Hygiene Scheme in 2011 for adolescent girls across the country.
The scheme involves the distribution of sanitary pads alongside educational programs on menstrual health.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated period poverty, primarily due to the widespread job losses and financial difficulties resulting from extended quarantines and business closures.
The lockdown impacted the distribution of sanitary pads under the scheme.
The consumption of period products was also affected.
Media reports highlighted period poverty during the pandemic in India, attributing it to the delayed inclusion of the period products in the essentials list at the beginning of the lockdown.
Several factors contributed to the decline, including administrative delays for getting work permits, labour shortages due to migration and the reallocation of social workers to COVID related tasks.
