With more than 90% of Syria living in extreme poverty, it is no surprise that access to menstrual products is now deemed as a luxury in the country. 12 years ago,  incessant corruption, sectarian bias directed towards Alawites, bribery and bureaucracy among others threw Syria into war. The effect involves everything from hunger and anxiety to severe hardship. Additionally, many women experience period poverty, with limited access to menstrual products.

The Crux

Period poverty, according to Medical News Today, is the lack of access to menstrual products, education, hygiene facilities, waste management or a combination of these. It impacts approximately 500 million people worldwide. With part of the country still under siege and other parts submerged by an earthquake, women in Syria are facing period poverty and at an alarming rate.

Amid the ongoing war, prices of food and other necessities in Syria have skyrocketed leading to a high cost of living. Pads that were sold for between 15 and 25 Syrian pounds now cost 2,500 to 4,000 pounds.

Relief items sent by donors, rarely however, contain products for menstruation. These gender-blind responses discriminate against women as other items including food, clothing and shelter are deemed more important than menstrual products. These and other factors have led to period poverty in Syria.

A Helping Hand

Utopia, an NGO made up of women started making hand-sewn pads to cater for the gap in the market as a result of the war. Within the one hour of constant electricity supplied by the government as a result of the country’s war-ravaged power plants followed by a five hour power cut, the small team makes a little over 20 reusable, economical and eco-friendly pads. The organization has been able to sell/donate around 370 pads and 900 diapers for the aged and babies.

To combat period poverty in Syria, Utopia sells the pads at the manufacturing cost of 1,000 pounds per pad. The NGO used to provide food, drugs and financial assistance to needy students but had to include pad production as a result of the changing times and its impact on Syrian women.

Local NGO, Arab Women’s Society, has partnered with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the Syria Trust for Development to provide hygiene kits, including menstrual pads, to families in the vicinity. The society and its partners distribute period products and hygiene kits to 1,200 women in rural parts of Deir Ezzor, three times a month.

Founded by Evelina Llewelly, the period poverty-fighting organization, Jeyetna, based in Lebanon collects donations in cash and in-kind and gives them out to individuals on the ground.

The organization, which makes combatting period poverty in Syria and eliminating the stigma around periods their aim said in an interview with Alarabiya News, “In the case of natural disasters, period poverty worsens due to the gender-blind prioritization of other needs perceived as more essential like shelter, food, and water.”

A Look Ahead

Periods do not stop during war or earthquakes. It is commendable that these local NGOs are doing all within their power to help eliminate period poverty in Syria with scanty resources during these trying times. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr, “Somewhere along the way, we must learn that there is nothing greater than to do something for others.

Yet, it goes without saying that more could be done to alleviate this situation bedeviling Syrian women. 

– Angela A. Darkwah
Photo: Flickr