Madhya Pradesh to launch health project for rural girls

BHOPAL - Aiming to promote health and hygiene among adolescent rural girls, the Madhya Pradesh health department will soon provide sanitary napkins to them, a health ministry official said Wednesday.

However, the official said, it is yet to be decided whether to distribute them free or with a nominal charge of Re.1 or Rs.5.

This is part of the National Rural Health Mission scheme, a pilot project of which will be implemented initially in nine districts of Madhya Pradesh. This will later be launched across the entire rural belt in the state.

The nine districts selected are Tikamgarh, Panna, Chhatarpur, Mandla, Dindori, Balaghat, Sagar, Dewas and Vidisha. The state health department will distribute the napkins through its Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) cadres.

Asha workers will also organise awareness campaigns among rural adolescent girls and rural health committees will monitor the progress of the project, said the official.