More than 2 lakh adolescent girls in Himachal Pradesh are getting sanitary napkins under Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) for promoting menstrual hygiene among them, a state health department official said on Sunday.

The official said there are around 2.90 lakh girls in the adolescent age group in the state and many girls in this age group go through health problems related to their menstrual hygiene.

“The health department has implemented Menstrual Hygiene Scheme (MHS) for promotion of menstrual hygiene amongst adolescent girls as part of the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK).

The scheme aims to increase awareness of menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls and increase access to and use of good quality sanitary napkins among them.

In addition to this, the scheme also ensures safe disposal of sanitary napkins in an environmentally friendly manner,” the official added.

He stated that the scheme was initially implemented during 2011 in the 4 districts of the state namely Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Mandi, and Una by the Union government.

In the rest of the 8 districts, this scheme was implemented in the year 2014.

Under the scheme, the sanitary napkins were initially distributed by Anganwadi Workers but later this work had been given to Asha workers.

In 2018-19, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had announced that sanitary napkins which were essential for personal hygiene for adolescent girls, will be provided to all the girls studying in schools up to 10+2 level at the cost of Rs 1 per packet, he said.

He further stated that presently under this scheme, the Asha workers distribute the packets of sanitary napkins Rs 1 per pack to the adolescent girls which come by the name of ‘Suraksha’.

The one rupee charged from the adolescent is released as an incentive to the Asha workers for the distribution of the sanitary napkins.

He informed that till the second quarter, 2,20,864 adolescent girls have been given sanitary napkins under this scheme, he added.

It is worth mentioning here that there are 253 million adolescents in the age group 10-19 years in India.

This age group comprises individuals in a transient phase of life requiring nutrition, education, counselling, and guidance to ensure their development into healthy adults.

These adolescent girls are susceptible to several preventable and treatable health problems, nutritional disorders like malnutrition, anaemia, overweight, alcohol, tobacco, drug abuse, mental health concerns, injuries, and violence.