Girls urged to learn, follow hygine principles

Ignoring hygine can cause infections, even infertility,helath expert tells students

KARACHI:

An awareness session was held at Iqra University to educate women and girls about the principles of hygiene.

Health experts urged the participants to follow the principles of hygiene and take special care of hygiene during menstruation.

“Women get various infections due to ignoring their hygiene which can later lead to infertility,” renowned gynecologist Dr Tazeen Abbas said at the session organised by the Métier Group and Express Media Group. A large number of students, Dr Tazeen Abbas and Métier Group Director Marketing Muhammad Riaz participated in the session.

Dr Tazeen urged the participants to adhere to the principles of hygiene and said that it is more important for women to take care of their hygiene than men. Hygiene is more important during menstruation. Shooting down a myth she said, there is no harm in taking a bath during menstruation. The gynecologist said that women and girls need their space, unfortunately, in many homes, the girls’ washroom is used by everyone in the house or the washroom does not have all the necessary things required for hygiene purposes. “There are a few things we need to take care of during menstruation,” she said.

Psychological growth

Putting psychological pressure on girls regarding the menstrual cycle is wrong, the gynecologist said.

As per Dr Tazeen, there are many stages in life. “The greatest and most important period comes when children go from childhood to adolescence,” she said explaining that “We need to understand the psychological problems of girls between the ages of nine and 18. During this time physical and p change takes place. Menstruation is related to mental development.”

Parents feel that at this time they have to keep the child hidden as the incidences of abuse have increased a lot in society. Rather than depriving the girls and young women of the opportunity of enjoying sports and other outdoor activities, the parents should teach their daughters how to keep someone within their bounds and how to protect themselves.

In many communities, girls are married off at an early age. At that time girls do not have physical maturity. Parents should wait till the girl is mentally developed for the marriage, Dr Tazeen said. Early marriages should not be allowed.

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Health issues

Girls and women should consult a good gynecologist if their period stops for a month or if they do not feel any pain during menstruation.

Dr Tazeen said girls should use proper sanitary napkins during menstruation instead of cloth.

During the particular days, she said it was normal to feel body aches due to hormonal changes. Medication can be taken these days to reduce or prevent pain.

Another issue young girls face is the appearance of acne during menstruation, Dr Tazeen said. Pimples appear on the face of girls due to physical and chemical changes and it was absolutely normal. She urged the girls to avoid running after creams and lotions to suppress pimples, they will go away in due time.

Though women and girls living together like sisters or roommates, often exchange things, “never use another person’s undergarments as it is the root cause of more than half of diseases particularly related to women. It is very important to take care of cleanliness.”

Another important warning Dr Tazeen gave was, “never use vaginal wash for cleansing.” For hygiene put ten drops of Pyodine wash in a cup of water and use that solution twice a day only externally. She said that Pyodine does not turn black. Keeping Pyodine gel handy is useful because it can be applied to burnt or cut skin as an antiseptic, she said.

Girls should change their sanitary pads and undergarments in a timely manner. Also, pay attention to bathing during menstruation.

“The biggest problem we have is that girls do not talk openly with their parents or doctors,” Dr Zareen said. With such sessions, they will know right from wrong and misunderstandings will disappear.

Consult a doctor if you notice any changes. Don’t try household tips, girls and women get various infections due to not taking care of their hygiene, which is so dangerous that it can later lead to infertility. Therefore, it is important to pay special attention to cleanliness. It is also said in our religion that cleanliness is half faith.

Métier Group Director Marketing Muhammad Riaz said that it is very important to spread awareness among the people about every aspect of health. Students in schools and colleges are unaware of the principles of health due to which the Métier group has taken up the task of conducting awareness sessions to provide awareness to the students in this regard. “We will also list the products that are being used to solve the problems. We are conducting these sessions in various educational institutions across Pakistan for which we are also grateful to the Express Media Group,” he said.

Students participating in the awareness session also appreciated the conduct of the session. They said that such sessions should be held in schools and colleges including universities so that the girls can tell the questions and problems that arise in their minds to the experts without any hesitation.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2021.