Workshop on menstrual health and hygiene

Chandigarh, January 28, 2023: NSS Units and Medical Committee of Mehr Chand Mahajan DAV college for Women, Chandigarh under the guidance of Principal, Dr.Nisha Bhargava  organised Seven Day/Night NSS Special Camp. During this camp, Enactus SSBUICET organised the 7thworkshop in the “Mytharche” series on Menstrual Health and Hygiene, conveyed Prof. Seema Kapoor. Enactus Faculty Advisor. The workshop was attended by 100 NSS volunteers, 20 Enactus members and 10 members of the Drama Team of Panjab University.

The event commenced with a virtual address by Geetanjali Bakshi, Coordinator of CSR project Amodini of Versatile Group, Ludhiana. She introduced project Amodini, which was initiated to break the silence around menstrual hygiene for girls around the society and their successful collaboration with the Enactus team. This was followed by an interactive and insightful lecture by Dr.Neelam Sodhi (MD, OBS & Gynaecology) on menstrual health and hygiene with the goal of changing society by being open and honest about menstruation and menstrual hygiene. Project Uday of the Enactus Team seeks to gradually eliminate taboos surrounding menstruation. She was received by the crowd with a huge round of applause and everyone was moved by her words. Dr.Sodhi’s talk was followed by Ravina’s talk from Switzerland, who is doing a project with WHO and spoke on the advantages of using reusable cloth pads.

Time and again various art forms have been used to convey deep messages to society. Keeping this in mind, the drama team of Panjab University headed by Hargovind Singh Randhawa presented a skit to make the event entertaining and interactive. They presented a number of real-world examples that force us to consider our culture and address the silence surrounding a woman's menstrual cycle. Finally, self- written poetry on menstruation was also performed for the audience's amusement by an Enactus member.

Dr.Nisha Bhargava greatly appreciated the efforts made by the Enactus team & Versatile group and highlighted the prominent role played by Enactus in the progress of marginalized communities. She commended the students' efforts in planning the session to raise awareness regarding the importance of menstruation hygiene and the negative impacts of plastic-based sanitary napkins.

In addition to all of this, a stall was put up to display cloth based sanitary napkins created as part of CSR Project Amodini of Versatile Group and Project Uday of Enactus. Pottery products made under Project Dhra and cloth bags made by Ludhiana based NGO, Ashirwad were also displayed at stall.

The workshop was a great success. Prof. Kapoor acknowledged the support provided by Sh. Amandeep Singh Bhatti, Director Higher Education, Chandigarh for connecting Enactus team with various colleges of Chandigarh for the conduct of workshops on Menstrual Health and Hygiene.