Actress Kareena Kapoor Khan was all praise for young girls, who are promoting menstrual health and hygiene in the Uttar Pradesh (UP), under UNICEF's "Garima" project.
The 35-year-old UNICEF Goodwill Advocate said the girls are "champions of change" and are contributing a lot in empowering women across the state.
"All the girls I met today are brave and empowered adolescents. They are champions of change and without their contributions we can't break the silence around gender equality and the rights of girls and women."
"We have countless number of empowered adolescent girls in India and I had the privilege to meet some of them from UP. I would like to thank UNICEF for supporting these girls in their journey. They are now champions of promoting a crucial cause," Kareena said.
"Garima," a UNICEF- spearheaded project addresses and strengthens menstrual hygiene management in UP.
It aims at piloting a social and behavioral change and communication strategy for menstrual health and hygiene management among rural adolescent girls in the age group of 10-19 years, who have experienced or are about to experience menarche.
MP from Kannauj Dimple Yadav said, "Today is a very special day, because we are talking about menstrual hygiene, publicly for the first time. Mother-daughter bonds are very strong and we talk about so many issues but often not about menstruation.
"We as mothers do not teach our daughters often as they might get scared. Talking about menstrual hygiene is a very important issue. We need to talk about this issue and no longer should it be considered as a social taboo."
After meeting the girls, the "Ki & Ka" star attended a felicitation event along with government officials, UNICEF team and its partners.
"Despite numerous interventions on sanitation and health, menstrual hygiene and management has not yet received adequate attention.
"Given the social and cultural taboos around menstruation, addressing it is crucial towards impacting the well-being and empowerment of adolescent girls and also to reduce school drop-out among them," said Niloufar Pourzand, chief of the UNICEF office, UP .
