AN EFFORT TO PROMOTE MENSTRUAL HYGIENE.
SECURE WOMEN! SECURE SOCIETY!
About us
‘SHAKTHI’ is a social initiative started during the COVID-19 pandemic as an effort to ensure the free access and distribution of sanitary napkins to lesser privileged women. It also aims to spread awareness about the importance of menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls and women.
The initaive is conceptualised by Dr. Nidarshana Pandian
Objective
What inspired this mission?
Owing to societal norms and notions that have been propagated over generations, the topics of menstrual health and feminine hygiene products have generally been considered a topic of taboo. While menstruation is a bodily process experienced by every women, products that help to aid this process are still largely a privilege of those who can afford it, as it isn’t perceived as a necessity. Sanitary pads should not be a choice. Access to feminine hygiene products is a right of all women.
“Menstruation is a normal physiological process. As a Doctor i feel the need to make sure it does not affect the day to day activity of an underprivileged girl child.”
Dr.Nidarshana
Founder
What are our goals?
Through ‘SHAKTHI’, we hope to help alleviate the discomfort of young girls who endure discomfort and face exclusion from everyday activities. As doctors, we want to emphasise the fact that menstrual hygiene is imperative for every girl. We hope to do that through this campaign, we can aid women in practising hygienic menstrual practices which will prevent them from various reproductive tract infections.
We have identified a community with 25,000 households in association with the Corporation of Chennai. This area comprises of working class people and people below poverty line. We have started distributing sanitary pads among them and aim to distribute a total of 1,55,000 pads (approx 6 pads per person) with the support and the network of the Corporation of Chennai.
We are in the process of raising funds for the coming year, through personal and professional networks. Project ‘SHAKTHI’ aims to distribute free sanitary pads till December 2020 to help improve the living conditions of underprivileged women during COVIDean times. As part of our initiative, we will also be conducting workshops, awareness programs and health camps to reiterate the importance of menstrual hygiene and the usage of sanitary napkins.
As young doctors, we are focused in our aim and well-equipped to share our skills with deserving women. However, we are new to working closely with communities during times of crises and building a relationship with them. We thus reached out to an organisation with immense knowledge and on-field reach in managing natural disasters and crises and working with deserving and neglected communities, Bhoomika Trust.
Partnership with Bhoomika Trust
As an organisation with vast experience in managing disasters across India since 2001, Bhoomika Trust believes that response to a natural disaster is not just about providing relief, it is about a humanitarian response to the affected that looks beyond the immediate suffering; it is about rehabilitation of the affected through their vocation, their dwelling and finally about preparedness and disaster mitigation activity. Known for their work in rebuilding communities, Bhoomika works extensively with deserving and disrupted groups in and around Tamil Nadu in the area of education, livelihood and women empowerment. Bhoomika Trust will work with Project Shakthi to help deserving girls and women in these communities, as part of their Covid 19 efforts.
How can you help?
In order to ensure the sustainability of this project, we hope to raise funds from compassionate citizens and groups who wish to contribute to this cause. Any contribution will be greatly appreciated and will be used to aid the betterment of as many women and adolescent girls as possible.
Our Activities
