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On Wednesday (22), the Porto Alegre City Council approved the creation of the Menstrual Health Promotion Program. The initiative aims to ensure Distribution of menstrual hygiene products And Public health, education and social assistance network.
Suggested by Council member Lionel Rady (PT), the project has been approved by 27 votes in favorAnd Five votes against e abstention. The text states that the municipality distributes disposable pads, pads for indoor use, daily protection items and menstrual collectors to low-income women registered with social assistance services in the capital.
“This project was a request that came from social movements, where we know that approximately 25% of women, at some point in their lives, have experienced financial difficulties in purchasing sanitary pads. This generates a series of side issues, such as illness and difficulty in the study,” explains the consultant. .
If the project is approved by Mayor Sebastião Mello (MDB), the products will be distributed in municipal health network services, such as health units (US), emergency care units (UPAs), hospitals and schools in the municipal education network and social care network services.
For the purchase of these products, the executive branch will have to bear its own budgetary allocation.
According to the data of the Korui organization, whoever menstruates spends, on average, 12 R$ per month on disposable pads, which is equivalent to R$ 6000 for the entire fertile period.
Councilors and councilors celebrate the approval of a project proposed by Lionel Rady (PT) (in red tie) at Porto Alegre City Council, this Wednesday – Photo: Ederson Nunes/CMPA
The issue of menstrual poverty has gained repercussions after President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) The veto law, which provided for the distribution of absorbent materials For low-income and homeless students. After criticism of the veto, the government ensured it would “succeed” to make the measure workable.
According to UNICEF, menstrual poverty is the situation in which girls and women live due to a lack of access to resources, infrastructure and knowledge so that they have the full capacity to take care of menstruation.
According to data from the United Nations (UN), in Brazil, 25% of girls between 12 and 19 have stopped going to class at one time because they did not have sanitary pads.
