Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): “What is most important for promoting menstrual hygiene is to have a resource pool which gives right information and also looks at sustainable solutions, " says Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development Department, Sanjay Kumar Shukla.
Shukla was speaking at an event, organised by the Department of Women and Child Development and Unicef in the city on Tuesday to mark Menstrual Hygiene Day. Around 50 social media influencers of Madhya Pradesh joined the event. All of them took the Red Dot Pledge and committed to support the theme and pick up an issue to spread right information.
Commissioner of the department Sufiya Faruqui Wali urged these instagrammers, you-tubers and Radio Jockeys to see how they can break taboos , encourage engagement of men and boys in the process and spread information on the choices on menstrual health.
Joint director of the department Suresh Tomar, spoke on the role of social media influencers in breaking myths and taboos and also spoke on the gender aspect of the issue, and importance of engaging males.
Joint director of the department SPragya Awasthi, spoke on the efforts of the department, Udita scheme of the State on menstrual health.
Anil Gulati, UNICEF Communication Specialist, shared information on Red Dot Challenge - an initiative of UNICEF and social media influencer Diipa Khosla and shared that it is reaching out to people.This time the hashtag used are #PeriodFriendlyWorld and #RedDotChallenge. UNICEF team consisting of Narendra Singh Chouhan, WASH Specialist, Pushpa Awasthy, Nutrition Specialist, Amit Dogra Health Officer, and Sujan Sarkar supported the meeting.
All participants took the Red Dot Challenge by standing by the issue and also shared an image of Red Dot on the palm of their hand.