‘Social media influencers can help to spread message of menstrual hygiene and break taboos’

Senior Correspondent

NewsBits.in

BHOPAL: Around 50 social media players participated in a meeting held at UNICEF office of Madhya Pradesh in Bhopal to mark the menstrual hygiene day. The meeting was jointly organised by the state Department of Women and Child Development and UNICEF.

All the participants took the ‘Red Dot Pledge’ to show their commitment to support the theme of menstrual hygiene and pick up an issue to spread right information.

Speaking at the meeting Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development Department, Sanjay Shukla, said that it is important that we have a resource pool which gives right information and also looks at sustainable solutions.

Commissioner Women and Child Development, 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.

Pragya Awasthi, Joint Director Women and Child Development spoke on the efforts of the department including the Udita scheme of the State on menstrual health. Suresh Tomar, Joint Director Women and Child Development spoke on the role of social media influencers in breaking myths and taboos; the gender aspect of the issue, and importance of engaging males.

Anil Gulati, UNICEF Communication Specialist, shared information on Red Dot Challenge - an initiative of UNICEF and social media influencer Diipa Khosla and underlined that it is reaching out to people.

This time the hashtag used for spreading the message 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 and shared images of Red Dot on the palm of their hand in show of solidarity.