What precisely is a dignity package? On the heels of Menstrual Hygiene Day, marked yearly on 28 Could, listed below are 5 quick information:
1. What’s a dignity package?
Responding to emergencies, UN companies act quick to succeed in folks in want, together with the UN Kids’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN sexual and reproductive well being company, UNFPA. A part of what these and different support organizations do to assist is to distribute primary provides to take care of the well being and dignity of girls and ladies. Many of those are included inside containers known as dignity kits.
A dignity package includes primary objects that ladies and ladies want to guard themselves and keep hygiene, respect and dignity within the face of disasters, warfare and different crises.
These things are all housed inside a backpack or easy-to-carry bucket.
© UNICEF/Eyad El Baba
Ladies affected by the continued battle in Gaza obtain a care and safety bundle distributed by UNICEF.
2. What’s inside?
UNFPA’s dignity kits fluctuate throughout communities. The fundamental package comprises 10 key important objects.
Kits may also be customised with 39 completely different objects. In some settings, for instance, they might embrace a headband.
Typically, they include menstrual pads, tub cleaning soap, a number of pairs of underwear, detergent powder, sanitary napkins, a flashlight, toothpaste, a toothbrush and a comb.
Every of this stuff is catered to the precise wants of girls and ladies in communities all over the world.
© UNFPA
Contents of a UNFPA dignity package.
3. Why is menstruation help vital in instances of crises?
All girls and ladies who’re menstruating want primary provides. However, in instances of disaster, these wants usually fall to the wayside.
So, UN emergency support operations have jumped in to supply them with the essential necessities. That features in warzones, disaster-affected communities and in refugee camps. In these sorts of disaster conditions, entry to primary items and companies is affected, so the UN tries to fulfill these wants.
Offering interval help can enhance well being, cut back gender-based violence and extra. Learn UNFPA’s explainer on 5 key the explanation why right here.
Study extra about how the UN company helps girls and ladies in war-torn Gaza within the video under:
4. How do you get a dignity package?
UNFPA and UNICEF preserve prepositioned shares of dignity kits of their humanitarian warehouses.
As an illustration, UNFPA provides will be delivered wherever on the planet inside 48 hours.
UNICEF, which maintains the world’s largest humanitarian items warehouse positioned in Denmark, has kits readily available, prepared for distribution to crisis-affected areas.
The UN by no means prices beneficiaries for humanitarian support. So, the dignity kits together with different emergency help are free.
Watch how UNFPA reached out to girls and ladies affected by the 2023 lethal earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria under:
5. Ending ‘interval poverty’
Key to UN efforts aimed toward addressing the wants of menstruating girls and ladies is elevating consciousness whereas stemming what is known as “interval poverty”.
UN Girls defines interval poverty because the “incapacity to afford and entry menstrual merchandise, sanitation and hygiene services and schooling and consciousness to handle menstrual well being”. It’s attributable to stigma, excessive prices of menstrual merchandise and lack of water and sanitation services.
Ending the stigma of menstruation is a part of UN efforts to boost consciousness in communities all over the world, from The Gambia to Nepal.
Try this explainer video from UNFPA Nepal, with English subtitles, about dignity kits under:
