Senora’s water tanks help Koikhali women overcome period ordeals
In Satkhira, young women were taking contraceptive pills to stop their menstrual period, to avoid the use of saline water. Senora recently took on an initiative to help these women
A teenager from Satkhira stole contraceptive pills from her mother and took them to stop her menstrual cycle. She did it to avoid using rags during her period and then washing them in dirty, saline water.
Another young girl saw her mother suffer from long-term uterine disease and did not want it to happen to her as well. So she took pills from a neighbour and started taking them. She also advised two of her friends to do the same.
In a report by Mongabay titled 'For women on Bangladesh's coast, rising seas pose a reproductive health dilemma' author Jesmin Papri detailed such stories of women and girls resorting to pills to avoid the hassles of using saline water during periods.
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Lack of access to clean water and unavailability of sanitary napkins pose big risks for women's reproductive health in the coastal areas of Bangladesh such as Koikhali, Satkhira where other than a couple of ponds, the water available there is mostly saline water.
Even if there are some stores which sell sanitary napkins, there is often a cultural barrier that stops women from going there and buying it themselves. They have to ask a close male member of the family.
Rising sea levels induced by climate change and shrimp cultivation are increasing water salinity in these areas and the situation is getting worse with time. Salinity has been linked to many health problems such as long term infections and skin problems among women. These infections can lead to uterine diseases, which are also common in areas where saline water is prevalent.
This year in July, Senora – one of the leading sanitary napkin brands of the country owned by Square Toiletries – took some initiatives to help Koikhali's female population.
Koikhali is known for heavy rain during monsoon and Senora built 12 water tanks across six points in the union to store rainwater for the women to use. All the tanks were built within two weeks in July.
The brightly painted water tanks are placed near important buildings in the area such as schools and mosques, with well-made roofs so the rainwater can gather there and then drip into the tanks through pipes.
One tank can hold 7,500 litres of water. Regular filters are placed near the mouth of the pipes so the water entering the tanks is fairly clean. However, the water cannot be used for drinking.
At the same time, to raise awareness about period hygiene, Senora arranged seven 'uthan baithaks' (community meetings) with Koikhali's women and provided more than 300 young women with three months' worth of sanitary napkins for free.
Moreover, through these meetings, it trained two women from the community to act as 'Nora Apa' – friendly faces in the neighbourhood who are distributing the free Senora napkins to the women and if needed, women can call them for simple period advice. However, they are not meant to replace trained health workers or doctors.
One of them is 21-year-old Khadiza Sultan from Shoilokhali village. She studied up to HSC and has been a 'Nora Apa' for more than a month. She said, "I am aware of the problems faced by Koikhali women regarding lack of pads and saline water," adding, "we cannot go to the stores to buy sanitary napkins so girls are now coming to me to get the free pads, it feels really good."
Dr Bilkis Begum Chowdhury, an associate professor at Kumudini Women's Medical College, explained the negative impacts of using birth control pills without consulting a doctor. "There are certain rules of using pills such as taking them at the same time every day and so on. You cannot use them randomly and definitely not without a doctor's advice," she said.
On the harmful effects of uncontrolled use of pills, she further elaborated, "if oral pills are used and then stopped and then used again etc, they can cause irregular bleeding and it may lead to anaemia."
Senora believes their effort may help in changing the lives of Koikhali women although on a small scale.
Tehsina Khanom, assistant manager and Senora spokesperson, Marketing Department, Square Toiletries Limited said that at first, they just wanted to see how the situation was in Koikhali and what kind of support they could provide there. "We saw that a natural thing like menstruation was being stopped with pills and it made us very concerned," she said.
When they saw up close that the situation was much worse than what they had imagined, they knew they had to do something immediately.
For now, they are providing free pads till September. Senora will conduct a follow up during the first or second week of October. After this, women will be able to buy pads from Nora Apa at a discounted price, if things go according to plan.
"When our team came from Koikhali, our groundwork revealed the extent of the women's sufferings. Even the water they drink is saline water," said Tehsina.
Mir Monirul Hossan, Senior Executive, Marketing Development, Square Toiletries Ltd opined that helping 300 girls might mean helping 300 families. "We tried to tell the locals that if they ensure their mothers and daughters are using clean water during periods, they will remain healthy. And if they remain healthy, the family members will be better taken care of."
22-year-old Muslima is grateful for Senora's initiatives, however she believes these are not enough and there has to be permanent solutions such as lowering salinity and increasing access to clean water.
"The water tank closest to my home is almost 7 kilometres away. Some people are already using the tanks' water for drinking because saline water is everywhere here," she mentioned.
Tehsina Khanom agreed that the water tanks are not permanent solutions. "We know it will be difficult during the dry season and the real problem lies in the saline water."
She said after three months, they can look into what other solutions they can provide which can directly affect salinity.
