Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the ‘Swachha’ program to ensure affordable access to health and menstrual hygiene products among adolescent girls and women. The state government said in an official statement that SWECHA stands for freedom and aims to give priority to female personal hygiene and encourage healthy communication of information.
Under this initiative, the state government will provide sanitary napkins free of cost to girl students in government educational institutions. Around 10 lakh adolescent girls studying in class 7 to 12 in all government schools and intermediate colleges in the state will be given 10 sanitary napkins every month.
A total of 120 napkins per year have been allotted to each female student, so even during the summer vacations, the students will be supplied with their quota before leaving the school. The government said a financial outlay of Rs 32 crore has been set aside. The brands being supplied to government schools are Whisper and Nine.
A female teacher in each school will be appointed as a nodal officer, who will be responsible for the supply of sanitary napkins to female students, safe methods of disposal and any assistance the students may require. Also for a safe and eco-friendly method of disposal, the state government has installed 6,417 incinerators across the state through the Swachh Andhra Pradesh (CLAP) initiative.
The free sanitary products are being supplied after the state government signed MoUs with P&G and Niine. Additionally, through the signed MoU, sanitary napkins will be sold at low prices at YSR Cheyutha retail stores to around 1 crore women living in both rural and urban areas.
According to a report by the United Nations Water Supply and Sanitation Cooperation Council, 23 percent of girls in India drop out of school due to lack of menstrual products, inadequate environment to change sanitary napkins, lack of running water and lack of disposal facilities. .
The AP government is building toilet facilities for girls in 56,703 government schools, hostels and educational institutions with uninterrupted water supply, to be completed by July 2023. The construction of separate toilets has already been completed in 15,715 schools. Government said.
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