Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of Jharkhand will launch ’Chuppi Todo, Swasth Raho Abhiyaan’ (Break the silence -Be healthy) on menstrual hygiene management (MHM) on May 28. Through this campaign the Government seeks to generate mass awareness on MHM, addressing the specific needs of adolescent girl and also support the family, peers, community, and parents to break the stigma associated with MHM.

The department organised workshop on Friday as part of the launch of the programme. The workshop was attended by senior level officials from Departments of Water and Sanitation, Health, Women and Child Development, Education, Panchayati Raj and other stakeholders including development partners, NGO’s, Academia, PRI representatives and youth leaders on raising awareness on MHM.

While addressing the gathering on the occasion Secretary, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation Aradhana Patnaik said that most of the problems related to menstruation in adolescent girls are due to lack of information. Lack of information is due to being silent and not telling anyone and concealing problems, she added.

“The menstruation is a normal procedure that every woman has to undergo every month. For this many misconceptions are in the minds of people, which we can overcome by spreading awareness,” said Patnaik.

A number of steps are being taken by the Swachh Bharat Mission and UNICEF to make women and adolescents aware about this. IEC kit was also released by Patnaik in the workshop.

The focus area of the campaign are district level campaign launching in each district on  May, 28 focused on orientation down to the gram panchayat level, development of district action plan on MHM and special gram sabha i.e. swachhta sabha on MHM on June 2 in each gram panchayat.