Support for menstrual health for girls in India

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Indian Dreams Foundation!

IDF educates & aware girls and women towards puberty and menstruation hygiene management (MHM) for their good health and well–being through the SMILEY DAYS project. The project helps adolescent girls and women overcome the social barrier associated with menstruation by providing the right information, products and facilities.

We regularly conduct a series of awareness workshops in communities and schools to target school girls and adolescent girls and women from underserved groups.

On 16^th February 2023, we conducted an awareness workshop at Nayi Basti Baluganj Agra and sensitized targeted girls and women towards healthy habits during menstruation and the importance of hygiene during menstruation. It was an introductory as well as an activity-based workshop, team Smiley Days demonstrated healthy hand wash practices and the usage of the sanitary napkin to stay away from germs.

More than 100 adolescent girls and women participated and received knowledge on MHM. Participants looked happy and confident after attending the workshop and discussed their views with the team members.

Poonam (name changed), 16 years old girl said, “Many girls are subjected to restriction in their daily lives simply because they are menstruating. They are not allowed to enter the kitchen because menstruating girls are considered as impure. I used to face such restrictions a few years ago. My grandmother used to restrict me when I wanted to enter in the kitchen to bring my food. I usually kept my periods secret so that my grandmother didn’t know about periods and didn’t restrict me from entering in the kitchen. But today after attending the workshop I was pleased and thanked the IDF team for spreading awareness towards a very important topic”.  

Thanks to all for your support and motivation in our Smiley Days journey.

Thanks & Regards,

Team IDF