in Gaza, menstrual poverty adds to shortages and health difficulties

In the midst of the conflict, women in Gaza must face an additional ordeal: menstrual poverty.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is far from improving, and being a woman and menstruating doesn’t help. Some have no choice but to use pieces of tents or children’s diapers as periodic protection.

Palestinian women who remained in Gaza testify to their living conditions, and in particular to these shortcomings. On Instagram, Bisan Owda, a Palestinian filmmaker, films her daily life in Gaza and denounces what Palestinian women have to endure: “We suffer from hunger, from thirst, from being bombed. We suffer from being displaced, and now we also suffer because there are no hygienic protections”.

To date, there are more than 700,000 women and girls in Gaza who have menstrual cycles, according to figures from the United Nations. There are so many women facing this shortage, who are trying to cope with this situation with the means they have. Also, with the war, we are seeing a depletion of stocks of sanitary napkins. This product is becoming rare, therefore more expensive and therefore inaccessible for the majority of women.

According to the UN, “These conditions expose women and girls in Gaza to risks of genital and urinary tract infections”. These infections require medical advice and medication, except that more than two thirds of hospitals are no longer functioning according to the United Nations.

While more than a million women and girls have been displaced since the start of the war, this menstrual vulnerability also leads to “situation that exacerbates mental health problems”, according to a Unicef ​​spokesperson. And the question of privacy persists, when Gazans live in refugee camps or with several dozen people per apartment.

To help these women, some NGOs include protection in their humanitarian packs, but in a column at the end of May, several NGOs point out that the best way to improve the health situation would be a ceasefire.