Ujaas is on a path to make positive changes in the menstrual health environment, starting from the bottom up, as part of its mission to #ChangeThePsychle and make a real effect. The Pioneer gets in touch with the organization’s founder, Advaitesha Birla, and exchanges insights regarding the project.
TEJAL SINHA
Guidelines for Menstrual Hygiene Management, or MHM, has been a crucial component of the “Swachh Bharat Mission.” India’s performance has remained strong in this regard. Approximately 90% of women with 12 or more years of education reported using safe period products, including as tampons, menstrual cups, sanitary napkins, and locally manufactured napkins, according to the fifth National Family Health Survey.
Well, thanks to a few organisations that have gone round and about to make sure menstrual hygiene has not been treated as a taboo. And one amongst them is Ujaas, founded by Advaitesha Birla. Having always been passionate about giving back to society, and seeing that within many of her family members, right from her great-grandparents to her parents, it is ingrained in her DNA.
Menstrual health, she says, is something she’s been very passionate about. “I think it is a huge challenge, and women, especially in the rural part of the country, face many problems, so I decided to start Ujaas – it all started with a small dream of making a change and hoping to make a positive impact. Looking back, it was a distinctive moment that Ujaas came to light which was when I was reading an article about the menstrual health landscape in India. Then I came across some stats, which startled me, which is when I decided that this was the space, I wanted to work in.”
Recognising the taboo and reluctance to discuss menstrual health in urban settings, she could only imagine the compounded challenges faced in rural areas. This revelation fuelled her determination to initiate Ujaas. What most people don’t understand is that menstrual hygiene and its corresponding products are not a ‘luxury’ – it is the basic right of every woman in the country. On the one hand, they made such rapid progress in the menstrual hygiene space through new end products like menstrual cups and discs; on the other hand, women, especially in rural areas, are suffering from enormous emotional and financial stress when it comes to access to safe and affordable menstrual hygiene products.
To mitigate this gap, “Educating everyone, not just women, on the importance of menstrual hygiene and how to achieve it is important. The first step, of course, starts with education on such practices. While social media is a powerful tool, on-ground challenges need on-ground support in availability and accessibility. Having said this, it is crucial to extend efforts into rural areas to heighten awareness and bridge the accessibility gap, particularly given the exacerbated situation in these regions. Making rural outreach a top priority is essential in our national endeavour to address the pressing issue of menstrual health.”
They have a twofold mission: to alleviate period poverty and to empower adolescent girls and women, enabling them to embrace effective practices for menstrual health and hygiene management. We have three main verticals for awareness, distribution, and sustainability!
Also the daughter of Kumar Mangalam Birla, the humanitarian shares, “Our awareness programs are built in a very interactive and age-appropriate manner. We have distribution drives in which we give sanitary napkins pro bono. We are also training young girls to make their sanitary napkins to become self-sufficient. The Ujaas team, in their dedicated awareness sessions, goes beyond disseminating information by actively creating a supportive and positive environment. Through engaging games and activities, they ensure that the learning experience is not only educational but also enjoyable for girls. The sessions are designed to encourage questions, fostering an atmosphere where girls feel empowered to seek information and express themselves freely.”
One of the significant challenges they come across is to encourage people to start a conversation around menstrual health in the first place since they still consider it a vast ‘taboo’, especially in rural areas. Once that hurdle is crossed, she believes we will be better placed. “The next thing is, of course, convincing women to try out new sanitary products since they are used to old-school and often unhygienic products that are not only unsanitary but also pose a huge risk to their health. Of course, circling back, it all starts with education and awareness, and the more people talk about it, the more space it will create to make a change in the area. Ensuring the active participation of all key stakeholders, particularly family members, is crucial to effectively overcome these challenges.”
The Ujaas Menstrual Health Express Van is a key component of the initiative, embarking on a remarkable journey that spans 25 states and 107 cities, covering over 20,000 kilometres. The Ujaas Menstrual Health Express serves not only as a vital resource for providing education to women, but also as a valuable platform for collecting critical data. This data plays a pivotal role in guiding and informing our future endeavours and interventions, ensuring a more targeted and impactful approach.
For the longest time, “I was under the impression that these myths are no longer prevalent, but they very much are, and they span villages and cities. While researching, I read about these period huts. I was startled, to say the least, learning that for five days, women cannot enter the central portion of the house (forget the bedroom and the kitchen) but are relegated to a dingy corner where they stay cooped up till their cycle is over. In villages, these huts are sometimes far away from the house. They are poorly lit and partially open, making women vulnerable to extreme weather, insect bites and sometimes, even attacks by wild animals. In terms of ‘period huts’, the concept remains the same, and, unfortunately, such practices exist. While we keep reiterating that periods are ‘completely’ normal, what we also need to understand is that it is a hormonal cycle and for some women, it can be an extremely uncomfortable and painful process, replete with cramps, nausea, weakness and headache. In such a scenario, women, on the contrary, need extra rest and care rather than being confined to an uncomfortable space. Of course, you need to keep yourself ‘clean’ and follow all hygiene practices that you otherwise should – but apart from that, there is no reason for the woman to stay away from her family during her period.”
Guidelines for Menstrual Hygiene Management, or MHM, has been a crucial component of the “Swachh Bharat Mission.” India’s performance has remained strong in this regard. Approximately 90% of women with 12 or more years of education reported using safe period products, including as tampons, menstrual cups, sanitary napkins, and locally manufactured napkins, according to the fifth National Family Health Survey.
Well, thanks to a few organisations that have gone round and about to make sure menstrual hygiene has not been treated as a taboo. And one amongst them is Ujaas, founded by Advaitesha Birla. Having always been passionate about giving back to society, and seeing that within many of her family members, right from her great-grandparents to her parents, it is ingrained in her DNA.
Menstrual health, she says, is something she’s been very passionate about. “I think it is a huge challenge, and women, especially in the rural part of the country, face many problems, so I decided to start Ujaas – it all started with a small dream of making a change and hoping to make a positive impact. Looking back, it was a distinctive moment that Ujaas came to light which was when I was reading an article about the menstrual health landscape in India. Then I came across some stats, which startled me, which is when I decided that this was the space, I wanted to work in.”
Recognising the taboo and reluctance to discuss menstrual health in urban settings, she could only imagine the compounded challenges faced in rural areas. This revelation fuelled her determination to initiate Ujaas. What most people don’t understand is that menstrual hygiene and its corresponding products are not a ‘luxury’ – it is the basic right of every woman in the country. On the one hand, they made such rapid progress in the menstrual hygiene space through new end products like menstrual cups and discs; on the other hand, women, especially in rural areas, are suffering from enormous emotional and financial stress when it comes to access to safe and affordable menstrual hygiene products.
To mitigate this gap, “Educating everyone, not just women, on the importance of menstrual hygiene and how to achieve it is important. The first step, of course, starts with education on such practices. While social media is a powerful tool, on-ground challenges need on-ground support in availability and accessibility. Having said this, it is crucial to extend efforts into rural areas to heighten awareness and bridge the accessibility gap, particularly given the exacerbated situation in these regions. Making rural outreach a top priority is essential in our national endeavour to address the pressing issue of menstrual health.”
They have a twofold mission: to alleviate period poverty and to empower adolescent girls and women, enabling them to embrace effective practices for menstrual health and hygiene management. We have three main verticals for awareness, distribution, and sustainability!
Also the daughter of Kumar Mangalam Birla, the humanitarian shares, “Our awareness programs are built in a very interactive and age-appropriate manner. We have distribution drives in which we give sanitary napkins pro bono. We are also training young girls to make their sanitary napkins to become self-sufficient. The Ujaas team, in their dedicated awareness sessions, goes beyond disseminating information by actively creating a supportive and positive environment. Through engaging games and activities, they ensure that the learning experience is not only educational but also enjoyable for girls. The sessions are designed to encourage questions, fostering an atmosphere where girls feel empowered to seek information and express themselves freely.”
One of the significant challenges they come across is to encourage people to start a conversation around menstrual health in the first place since they still consider it a vast ‘taboo’, especially in rural areas. Once that hurdle is crossed, she believes we will be better placed. “The next thing is, of course, convincing women to try out new sanitary products since they are used to old-school and often unhygienic products that are not only unsanitary but also pose a huge risk to their health. Of course, circling back, it all starts with education and awareness, and the more people talk about it, the more space it will create to make a change in the area. Ensuring the active participation of all key stakeholders, particularly family members, is crucial to effectively overcome these challenges.”
The Ujaas Menstrual Health Express Van is a key component of the initiative, embarking on a remarkable journey that spans 25 states and 107 cities, covering over 20,000 kilometres. The Ujaas Menstrual Health Express serves not only as a vital resource for providing education to women, but also as a valuable platform for collecting critical data. This data plays a pivotal role in guiding and informing our future endeavours and interventions, ensuring a more targeted and impactful approach.
For the longest time, “I was under the impression that these myths are no longer prevalent, but they very much are, and they span villages and cities. While researching, I read about these period huts. I was startled, to say the least, learning that for five days, women cannot enter the central portion of the house (forget the bedroom and the kitchen) but are relegated to a dingy corner where they stay cooped up till their cycle is over. In villages, these huts are sometimes far away from the house. They are poorly lit and partially open, making women vulnerable to extreme weather, insect bites and sometimes, even attacks by wild animals. In terms of ‘period huts’, the concept remains the same, and, unfortunately, such practices exist. While we keep reiterating that periods are ‘completely’ normal, what we also need to understand is that it is a hormonal cycle and for some women, it can be an extremely uncomfortable and painful process, replete with cramps, nausea, weakness and headache. In such a scenario, women, on the contrary, need extra rest and care rather than being confined to an uncomfortable space. Of course, you need to keep yourself ‘clean’ and follow all hygiene practices that you otherwise should – but apart from that, there is no reason for the woman to stay away from her family during her period.”
