WASH FOURM on Knowledge on Menstrual Hygiene Management and Health Impacts

With the slogan “No More Limits”, the 6^th Menstrual Hygiene (MH) Day was celebrated worldwide on May 28, 2018. Menstrual Hygiene Day is celebrated with a motive to raise awareness on challenges that women and girls face worldwide due to their menstruation and discover solutions to combat these challenges.

Paschim Paaila in collaboration with Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO) and National Institute of Health and Environment (NIHE) organized 59^th Series of WASH FORUM entitled “Knowledge on Menstrual Hygiene Management and Health Impacts” on May 25, 2018 at ENPHO Hall. The main objective of May series forum was to share knowledge status of Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) and associated health impacts to identify areas of issues to improve MHM.

The program was commenced with introduction of Paschim Paaila, WASH FORUM, objectives of forum and with introduction of participants. The main objective of WASH Forum has always been to provide an opportunity for social interaction and knowledge sharing on different environmental and health issues in relation to WASH and disasters and to critically analyze the role of the youth in the aforementioned issues.

Mr. Gyan Maharjan, Social Activist and President of X-Pose Nepal, resided as Key Speaker for the program. Mr. Maharjan shared the experience of working as Male Activist in the sector of MHM and importance of male’s involvement in these issues to help women and girls to safely manage menstruation.

Ms. Karuna Bhattarai and Ms. Sunita Karki presented the research paper in the forum focusing on Menstrual Hygiene Management and associated health impacts. Ms. Bhattarai presented the paper entitled “Reproductive Health Problems and Health Seeking Behavior among Adolescent girls of Surkhet District in Western Nepal” and Ms. Karki shared the research paper entitled “Menstrual Hygiene Management: associated factors and implications on health of Adolescent girls of rural areas in Nepal”. Both papers highlighted on prevalence of health problems among adolescent girls due to lack of MHM knowledge.

Altogether, 25 participants attended the program. The forum was interactive with participants actively engaged in the discussions following the presentation by each of the resource persons. Participants avidly put forward their queries in relation to presented topics.

58th Series of WASH FORUM on Health Care Waste Management: Challenges and Opportunities

Every year, World Health Day is celebrated on April 7 worldwide to address public health issues. The theme of World Health Day 2018 is "Universal Health Coverage; Everyone, Everywhere". On the occasion of World Health Day, the monthly program WASH FORUM was organized on 27 April, 2018 entitled “Health Care Waste Management: Challenges and Opportunities” at ENPHO Hall. Paschim Paaila, in collaboration with ENPHO and National Institute of Health and Environment (NIHE) organized 58^th Series of WASH FORUM addressing the month of April as World Health Day. The main objective of 58^th Series of WASH Forum was to share an overview of health care waste management in Nepal with present challenges and opportunities for youth in its management.

Mr. Phurba Sange Moktan, Persident of Paschim Paaila, welcomed everyone in the FORUM and shared the idea of WASH FORUM as the learning platform for youths. Mr. Moktan highlighted the idea of initiating WASH FORUM as knowledge sharing platform.

Ms. Manju Dahal, National Open College (NOC)/NIHE and Dr. Rasna Bhatta, NIHE resided as resource person for the series. Ms. Dahal gave an overview of waste generation at health care centers. Out of total waste generation at health cares, only 20% of wastes generated are infectious and mixing of infectious waste with other wastes results in almost 100% infectious waste generation from the health care centers. The concept, budget, manpower, space, plan and policy and, strategy were highlighted as major challenges for health care waste management.

Mr. Dil Bahadur Mahara, Advisor at NIHE, said, “Health Care Waste Management is a serious issue in Nepal and especially youths have to share the knowledge of health care waste management among general public and raise awareness for improving the status” during his remarks.

Dr. Gahendra Mahara, Vice-President of NIHE, presented Token of Love to resource person. Altogether 32 youths and professionals attended the FORUM with active participation and showed keen interest on the issues during question and answer session.