Palakuzha Panchayat In Kerala Launches Menstrual Cup Initiative

The Palakuzha Panchayat from the district of Ernakulam will be the first in the state of Kerala to allocate funds for the distribution of menstruation cups to all of its female residents through their menstrual cup initiative. It has set aside a total of Rs 26,000 as a part of its annual plan for the year 2022–23.

The panchayat's decision to introduce the menstrual cup was purely based on its understanding that sanitary napkins are both a harm to environment and economic condition for the underprivileged class in the state due to improper disposal and high charges.

Palakuzha Panchayat's Menstrual Cup Initiative

KA Jaya, who is the president of the Palakuzha panchayat from the Ernakulam district, said that every family has to set aside approximately Rs 350 to Rs 500 every month for purchasing sanitary pads and other menstrual products which is not really affordable for unprivileged people.

She also added to her statement, "The sanitary pads also cause environmental issues as we don’t know a proper method to dispose them yet. To resolve these both issues at once, we decided to introduce the menstrual cup to the women in the panchayat. As the life expectancy of a menstrual cup is around 10 years, the family need not spend a large amount of money every month."

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Along with the panchayat, the Kudumbashree Gender Resource Center and Palakuzha Kudumbashree Kendra will collaborate to carry out the initiative. In accordance with its yearly strategy for the financial year 2022–2023, for which it has set aside Rs 26,000. President of the Palakuzha panchayat stated, that in the initial phase of their initiative they are planning to distribute around 100 menstrual cups to the women in the panchayat, as many of them are not aware about the use of menstrual products and have concerns regarding it, they will launch an awareness campaign to eradicate the taboo over using the menstrual cup.

So far around 80 women got themselves registered for the project, and the panchayat is planning to do a door-to-door campaign with the help of Kudumbashree workers to teach the citizens the advantages of using the menstrual cups.