When heavy rains led to massive floods in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul in May, normal life for 2.3 million people came to a standstill. Ever since, the rain has not stopped, and the needs have grown exponentially. More than 80,000 people remain in temporary shelters and need help urgently.
While all these disruptions may have impeded supply chains or made basic living supplies harder to find, they have not interrupted the natural menstruation cycles of half of the people impacted by these floods.
"One of the problems we face in dealing with the flood emergency in Brazil is the difficulty in getting access menstrual hygiene and menstrual health products", reported Dr. Julia Klock, a medical volunteer who paused her regular work to volunteer with the Brazilian Red Cross during the floods.
While menstruation is as natural as eating, or sleeping, too often, people are reluctant to talk about the lack of essential menstrual health products because this topic is sometimes seen as embarrassing or awkward — something to be hidden. "In many communities, this topic is still taboo," Dr. Klock notes.
This year, World Menstruation Day takes on the theme "Together for a #PeriodFriendlyWorld" in order to fully normalizie menstruation and to render these taboos to history.
In order to help us unpack this issue, we asked Katherine Fuentes, the protection, gender and inclusion coordinator for the IFRC in the Americas, to tell us what top things people should be talking about when it comes to menstruation and hygiene during and after a major crisis.
In the wake of floods that inundated entire communities in southern Brazil, the IFRC distributed hygiene kits that included sanitary napkins to help meet the health and hygiene needs of the community.
Photo: Alejandro Bravo/ IFRC
- Access to menstrual hygiene products.
“When a disaster occurs, such as the recent floods in Brazil, access to menstrual products becomes more difficult.
That is why the emergency items we distribute include menstrual hygiene products, considering how many people of menstruating age have been affected by the disaster.
These hygiene products can range from sanitary pads, tampons, and menstrual cups to menstrual panties, cloth pads, hygiene buckets, among others.
- Clean, safe and private facilities
We seek to ensure that menstruating individuals have access to clean drinking water, clean restrooms, and private spaces to change and dispose of waste properly.
Brazilian Red Cross volunteers deliver boxes of relief items to the indigenous community of Goj Kusug in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, a community that indirectly affected by the floods.
Photo: Alejandro Bravo/ IFRC
- Education and awareness-raising
We work to ensure that people are informed about the menstrual cycle, so that they know how to manage their menstrual hygiene in difficult conditions, where to access products and how to dispose of them.
To ensure menstrual health, the involvement of the whole community, including boys and men, is key. Knowing about the menstrual cycle helps to reduce stigma, promotes collective accompaniment, and helps to care for health and promote well-being.
Some actions in this area are group meetings and consultation processes to learn about the specific needs of menstruating people.
- Psychosocial support
It is possible that during emergencies, menstruation is stigmatized. So it is necessary to provide psychosocial support and create an environment where people can talk openly, without taboos, with a focus on Protection, Gender and Inclusion. In this way the individual needs of each person is considered.
To provide appropriate care, we must recognize what gender stereotypes and roles are present, what are the ideas and practices in the community about menstrual health, and how our humanitarian assistance programs can address the needs of menstruating people.”
For more information, please see the following links to IFRC guidelines and toolkits for managing the menstrual health of people affected by emergencies and disasters.
