Menstrual health is not charity but a fundamental right: Experts at conclave

Menstruation is a natural part of life and society must create an environment where girls and women can speak openly about menstrual health with dignity and confidence, Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights Chairperson Babita Patra said on Thursday.

Addressing the Menstrual Health and Hygiene Conclave 2026 in Bhubaneswar, Patra said no girl or woman should feel excluded, embarrassed or unsafe because of menstruation and stressed that “a compassionate and informed society is the foundation of menstrual dignity for all”.

The state-level conclave, organised by the Odisha Menstrual Health and Hygiene Alliance (OMHH Alliance) in collaboration with UNICEF on Menstrual Hygiene Day 2026, was held under the theme “Rising Together: Transforming Menstrual Health as a Fundamental Right.”

Several speakers at the event highlighted that despite growing awareness and improved access to sanitary products, menstruation continues to be surrounded by stigma, silence and discriminatory practices in many parts of the country.

Odisha Additional Director General of Police Shyni S said significant challenges remain in ensuring access to safe water, clean toilets and sanitary products for girls and women in schools, colleges, workplaces and public spaces.

“These are not luxuries but basic necessities that must be guaranteed so that every woman and girl can manage her menstrual cycle with safety, comfort and dignity,” she said.

She also questioned social practices surrounding the celebration of a girl’s first period, saying such customs are often accompanied by exclusion and discrimination.

“Celebration without dignity, freedom and respect has little meaning,” she said, adding that women must support one another while boys and men should also be included in conversations around menstruation to dismantle stigma and promote equality.

Prasanta Kumar Dash, Chief Field Officer of UNICEF Odisha, said taboos linked to menstruation continue despite improvements in access to sanitary products.

“Normalising menstruation in society must begin with open conversations at home, in schools, workplaces and communities,” he said.

Dash said initiatives such as Odisha’s Khushi scheme were important steps towards improving menstrual hygiene, but broader social change remained essential to ending stigma.

Professor Shreepad Karmalkar, Director of IIT Bhubaneswar, said menstrual health was closely linked to constitutional guarantees of dignity, privacy and equality under Article 21.

“Health, hygiene, dignity and well-being are rights that belong to every individual,” he said.

Karmalkar said IIT Bhubaneswar had introduced measures including allowing female students two days of work from home during menstruation and had become the first IIT to recycle used menstrual products.

Dr Saumya Uma, Professor and Director at the Centre for Women’s Rights at O P Jindal Global Law School, said menstrual health was “not only a health issue but also an issue of dignity, equality, inclusion and intersectionality”.

Referring to the Supreme Court’s Dr Jaya Thakur versus Union of India judgment of 2026, Uma said menstrual hygiene management had now evolved from a welfare concern into an enforceable constitutional entitlement linked to the rights to life, education, privacy and substantive equality.

Speakers at the conclave repeatedly stressed that menstrual dignity cannot remain an individual burden and must instead become a collective social responsibility supported through awareness, sanitation access, healthcare and policy reforms.