Sanitary napkins for rural girls at Re.1 per pack now

Sanitary napkins will now be provided to young girls in rural areas at Re.1 per pack to promote menstrual hygiene in the country, the union health ministry said Wednesday.

The ministry approved a Rs.150 crore scheme in this regard under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), launched in 2005 to provide affordable healthcare in rural areas.

A pack of six high quality sanitary napkins will be provided to below poverty line adolescent girls in rural areas at Re.1. Above poverty line girls will be charged Rs.5 per pack, a ministry official said.

A total of 235 districts have been identified as 'focus districts' and workers will be recruited in them.

The scheme will be implemented in three phases.

In the first year, the programme will be implemented in 150 districts, which is 25 percent of the country. Of these, 30 districts will be from the four southern states, Maharashtra and Gujarat, and 120 districts will be in the northern, central and north-eastern states.

The first phase is expected to cover over 1.5 crore girls with approximately 30 percent of them being below the poverty line.

'For the 30 districts in southern states, Maharashtra and Gujarat, self-help groups have been suggested. For the 100 districts in central, northern and north-eastern states where self-help groups are not yet that mature, sourcing from sanitary napkin manufactures through a competitive bidding process can be an option,' the official said.

The decision was taken in a meeting of the Mission Steering Group of the NRHM chaired by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. The meeting was also attended by Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, Rural Development Minister C.P. Joshi and Planning Commission Deputy Chaiman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

The central government has proposed to involve Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) for distribution of sanitary napkins with an incentive of Re.1 for every pack they distribute.

The ministry, however, made it clear that involving ASHA was an option and state governments were free to chose any other method they find appropriate.

The official said the states will need to put in place uniform standards for production and quality checks to ensure safety of the product in line with the Bureau of Industrial Standards.

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