Menstrual hygiene day 2017: Tips for a Fresh and Healthy Period for Every Girl

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Menstrual hygiene day 2017: Tips for a Fresh and Healthy Period for Every Girl
Menstrual hygiene day 2017: Tips for a Fresh and Healthy Period for Every Girl

New Delhi : Menstrual hygiene day (MHD or MH Day) is an annual awareness day, on 28 May, that aims to break taboos and raise awareness about the importance of good menstrual hygiene management (MHM) for women and adolescent girls worldwide. Menstruation is a normal biological process and a key sign of reproductive health, yet in many cultures it is treated as something negative, shameful or dirty.

Learning the basics of menstrual hygiene helps to ensure that you and the women in your life are fully informed about the right way to stay healthy and avoid infection during menstruation.

Effective menstrual hygiene is vital to the health, well-being, dignity, empowerment, mobility and productivity of women and girls. Menstruation is a time of heightened risk of infection for women, including sexually transmitted infections.

Here are some tips to maintain hygiene during your periods:

1. Choose your method of sanitation: Today there are a number of ways including the use of sanitary napkins, tampons and menstrual cups to stay clean. In India, most unmarried girls prefer to use sanitary napkins.

2. Wash Regularly: Bathe at least once a day to keep the body clean and avoid odor. Wash your hands before and after going to the bathroom, changing your menstrual protection or cleaning your vagina.

3. Beware of a pad rash: A pad rash is something that you might experience during a period of heavy flow. It usually occurs when the pad has been wet for a long time and rubs along the thighs causing it to chaff. To prevent this from occurring, try to stay dry during your periods. 

4. Have a bath regularly: To some it may seem like the most inane advice, but in some cultures it is believed that a woman should not bathe during her periods. This myth was based on the fact that in the olden days women had to bathe in the open or in common water bodies like a river or lake.

5. Refrain from sexual intercourse: The vagina is susceptible to infections during your period, becoming quite vulnerable and open to bacteria and viruses. So you should refrain from having sexual intercourse during menstruation.

6. Practice Safe Sex: During menstruation, women face an added risk of passing on or contracting blood-borne diseases, such as HIV or Hepatitis B, through unprotected sex. This heightened risk results from the higher concentrations of HIV and Hepatitis B found in blood, as opposed to the comparatively lower concentrations in other body fluids such as semen and vaginal secretions.

Input from Wikipedia and Agencies

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