{"id":54964,"date":"2021-07-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lebanonnewsgazette.com\/?guid=07a90f42d42ceba258570ab5c7dd2cd3"},"modified":"2021-07-16T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T00:00:00","slug":"most-lebanese-women-struggle-to-afford-period-supplies-survey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lebanonnewsgazette.com\/most-lebanese-women-struggle-to-afford-period-supplies-survey\/","title":{"rendered":"MOST LEBANESE WOMEN STRUGGLE TO AFFORD PERIOD SUPPLIES: SURVEY"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
Three quarters of females in Lebanon are struggling to afford period supplies amid a deep economic crisis, forcing many to resort to impractical or unsafe alternatives, non-government groups said Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201c76.5 percent of women and girls living in Lebanon experienced more difficulty in accessing products because of the sharp rise in prices during the past year,” the groups Fe-Male and Plan International found in a survey.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
As Lebanon battles its worst financial crunch in history, the price of mostly imported period pads has soared.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Women and girls are being forced to buy cheaper menstrual pads, wear them longer, or even replace them altogether with tissues, other textiles or cut-up baby nappies.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A survey of 1,800 women and girls from the country’s Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian communities found that these coping mechanisms had repercussions on everyday life.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Up to 36 percent of respondents had experienced irritations or infection due to lack of access to the right feminine hygiene products.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
More than 35 percent, mostly younger participants, said their period had prevented them from reaching their full potential or engaging in daily activities.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
One school girl told the Lebanese group Fe-Male that her family could not afford sanitary pads so she used a piece of cloth and missed several days of school each month.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Both non-government groups called for a broader public discussion on period poverty and the right to access to safe sanitary supplies.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Menstruation is not an option but a biological reality, and access to the products of the menstrual cycle is a human right,” said Lama Naga of Plan International.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Alia Awada, the co-director of Fe-Male, said raising awareness was exceptionally important as women were often reluctant to discuss the topic.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Women and girls don’t speak a lot about this need, and this is one of the reasons for period poverty,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Keeping quiet about it leads to “dealing alone with it and using alternatives that might not be healthy”.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Source: National News Agency<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Three quarters of females in Lebanon are struggling to afford period supplies amid a deep economic crisis, forcing many to resort to impractical or unsafe alternatives, non-government groups said Wednesday.\u201c76.5 percent of women and girls living in Leb…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n