PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry plans to embark on an initiative to give free sanitary pads to underprivileged women as part of its efforts to combat period poverty.
Its minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa has kicked off the initiative by implementing the free sanitary pad initiative beginning with her office.
She said the move would be a catalyst in highlighting the issue, which she hopes to expand throughout the ministry.
“As the first female Health Minister, I should start it off at the ministry itself. It will be available at the minister’s office.
“Previously, this issue has been addressed by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on a smaller scale. But now the time has come for a firmer policy,” she said at the ministry’s monthly assembly here yesterday.Also present were the ministry’s secretary-general Datuk Harjeet Singh and director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Dr Zaliha added that they will also look at the possibility of collaborating with other agencies.
On whether other gynaecological and menstruation issues would be addressed, Dr Zaliha said that would require inter-agency involvement.
When asked if the issue would be addressed in a future budget following the Federal Government’s Budget 2022 that provides 130,000 free sanitary pads, Dr Zaliha said that the matter can be brought forward and expanded at a national level.
“This is why I decided to kick off with this first initiative and hopefully we can go into the details later on,” she said.
Findings from the first Kotex Period Poverty and Stigma study revealed that one in two female students wanted to skip school during menstruation.
The study which involved some 750 girls aged 10 to 24 nationwide also indicated that 5% of girls could not afford sanitary pads.
The Selangor state government had recently announced a RM200,000 allocation in its 2023 Budget to address period poverty.
