In news- Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy recently launched the ‘Swechha’ programme with a focus on the health and hygiene of women and adolescent girls.
About the Swechha programme-
- It aims to tackle the stigma attached to menstruation, prioritize female personal hygiene, and encourage a healthy dialogue of information.
- Under the initiative, the state government will provide sanitary napkins at government educational institutions free of cost.
- Ten sanitary napkins will be given every month to about 10 lakh adolescent girls studying from 7th-12th grades in all government schools and intermediate colleges across the state.
- Quality napkins at affordable prices will be made available in all YSR Cheyutha stores for women in urban and rural areas.
- A total of 120 napkins per year is allotted to every female student and even during summer vacations, the students will be supplied with their quota before they leave school.
- The branded free sanitary products being supplied are a result of the state government entering MOUs with corporate conglomerates like P&G and Niine Pvt Ltd.
- Each school will have a female educator appointed as a nodal officer to help female students with a sanitary napkin supply, safe methods of disposal, and any assistance the students may require.
- For a safe and environmentally-friendly way of disposal, the state government has set up 6,417 incinerators across the state through the Clean Andhra Pradesh (CLAP) initiative.
- The government, in partnership with UNICEF, WASH and P&G, will be conducting special awareness classes on menstruation and the importance of health and hygiene.
Source: The Hindu
