Tag Archives: periods

Gaza: Women and girls struggle to manage their periods amid crisis

Posted on by
Reply

Globally, 1.8 billion people menstruate, yet for many, especially in crises zones, it’s far more than an inconvenience.

In war-torn Gaza, around 700,000 women and girls of menstruating age, including thousands experiencing their first period, face this challenge under relentless bombardment and in cramped, unsanitary conditions with little privacy.

A human rights issue

The United Nations’ sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, warns that the lack of access to menstrual products, clean water, and soap makes it nearly impossible for women and girls to manage their periods with dignity.

Since March, Israel’s aid blockade has depleted hygiene supplies in Gaza, including sanitary pads. The authorities temporarily lifted the ban last month and UN agencies were able to bring in limited amounts of items such as flour and medicine.

Since the end of May, aid is now being distributed through a system backed by the United States and Israel, bypassing the UN and other humanitarian agencies, but it falls far short of what is needed.

Nearly 90 per cent of the territory’s water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, and fuel for water pumping is no longer available.

Women stand in a damaged displacement settlement in Khan Younis, Gaza.

“I sat in silence crying”

Speaking to UNFPA, a young girl recalled getting her period while sheltering in a crowded displacement camp.

“I only had one pad, so I wrapped it in toilet paper to make it last. I couldn’t wash, and the pain was horrible. I sat in silence crying until the end of the day.”

As nine in 10 households face extreme water shortages, the lack of clean water, soap, and privacy has turned menstruation into a source of anxiety, isolation, and shame. “Sometimes I need pads and soap more than I need food,” said Aisha*, a displaced girl.

Desperate measures, dangerous consequences

With less than a quarter of the over 10 million sanitary pads needed each month available, women and girls are forced to improvise. Many use torn clothes, sponges, or old rags, often without proper cleaning.

“I tore my only shirt into pieces so my daughters could use them instead of pads,” shared a father of four displaced from Jabalia.

These makeshift solutions are not only painful and undignified, but they can also cause infections and long-term reproductive health issues. With the health system on the brink of collapse, thousands of women may go untreated.

The psychological burden is equally severe. “Every time my period comes, I wish I weren’t a girl,” said one of the girls.

Stripping away dignity

Speaking from a health care perspective, but also as a woman, a doctor in Gaza described treating women coping with menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth under horrifying conditions.

“These should be natural experiences, not sources of distress and pain. I see strength in women’s eyes, but I also see deep pain and the stripping away of dignity,” she said.

A woman and child walk through the rubble of Gaza.

In emergencies, women and girls are among the most vulnerable. According to UN agencies, they face heightened risks due to displacement and the breakdown of normal protection structures and support. They also face increased care-related tasks such as providing food and water.

“Food keeps us alive, but pads, soap, and privacy let us live with dignity,” said Maysa*, a displaced woman in Khan Younis. “When we receive hygiene kits, it feels like someone finally sees us.”

How UNFPA is responding

As a frontline responder, UNFPA is working to ensure menstrual health is integrated across humanitarian efforts in Gaza. Since October 2023, the agency has provided more than 300,000 women and girls with two-month supplies of disposable menstrual pads and distributed postpartum kits to over 12,000 new mothers.

Yet, three months into a total aid blockade, stocks were nearly exhausted. With border crossings closed, hygiene kits are no longer reaching those in need. The recent entry of some aid distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation included food, flour, medicine and nutrition support according to media reports.

The UN continues to call for urgent support for women and girls caught in some of the world’s most neglected crises.

*Names have been changed for protection.

“Walnuts” the new brain food for stressed university students

Posted on by
Reply

Stressed university students might want to add walnuts to their daily diet in the weeks leading up to their next exam.

A new  clinical trial of undergraduate students during their university studies has shown positive effects of walnut consumption on self-reported measures of mental health and biomarkers of general health.

The University of South Australia study, published in the journal Nutrients, also suggests that walnuts may counteract the effects of academic stress on the gut microbiota during periods of stress, especially in females.

Lead researchers, PhD student Mauritz Herselman and Associate Professor Larisa Bobrovskaya, say the results add to the growing body of evidence linking walnuts with improved brain and gut health.

Walnuts may counteract the effects of academic stress on the gut microbiota during periods of stress, especially in women./CREDIT:Open Verse

“Students experience academic stress throughout their studies, which has a negative effect on their mental health, and they are particularly vulnerable during exam periods,” Herselman says.

Eighty undergraduate students split into treatment and control groups were clinically assessed in three intervals, at the beginning of a 13-week university semester, during the examination period and two weeks after the examination period. Those in the treatment group were given walnuts to consume daily for 16 weeks over these three intervals.

“We found that those who consumed about half a cup of walnuts every day showed improvements in self-reported mental health indicators.  Walnut consumers also showed improved metabolic biomarkers and overall sleep quality in the longer term.”

Students in the control group reported increased stress and depression levels in the leadup to exams but those in the treatment group did not. The walnut consumers also reported a significant drop in feelings associated with depression between the first and final visits, compared to the controls.

Previous research has shown that walnuts are full of omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, as well as melatonin (sleep inducing hormone), polyphenols, folate and vitamin E, all of which promote a healthy brain and gut.

“The World Health Organization has recently stated that at least 75 per cent of mental health disorders affect people under the age of 24 years, making undergraduate students particularly vulnerable to mental health problems,” Herselman says.

Assoc Prof Larisa Bobrovskaya says mental health disorders are common in university students and can adversely affect students’ academic performance and long-term physical health.

“We have shown that consuming walnuts during stressful periods can improve mental health and general wellbeing in university students, as well as being a healthy and delicious snack and a versatile ingredient in many recipes, to fight some negative effects of academic stress,” Assoc Prof Bobrovskaya says.

“Due to fewer numbers of males in the study, more research is needed to establish sex-dependent effects of walnuts and academic stress in university students. It’s also possible that a placebo effect might have come into play as this was not a blind study.”

Also Read:

b-type procyanidin-rich foods consumed in right amounts have multiple health benefits

Subcutaneous fat emerges as a protector of Womans’ brains

Health: Which grains you eat can impact your risk of getting heart disease earlier

Mind your language when diagnosing women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Posted on by
Reply

The language used by doctors when diagnosing female patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) can negatively impact their wellbeing and how they view their condition later on in life, new research finds.

PCOS is a condition that affects the working of ovaries and can result in a range of physical symptoms (irregular periods or none at all) and metabolic issues (weight gain). Researchers from the University of Surrey found that the use of the word ‘raised’ by practitioners when discussing test results can lead to higher levels of body dissatisfaction and dieting behaviour amongst women, whilst the use of the word ‘irregular’ can result in concerns about fertility.

Jane Ogden, Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Surrey, said: “Diagnostic consultations may take a few minutes, yet how these minutes are managed, what words are used and how this makes a patient feel may change how they make sense of their condition and influence their wellbeing in the longer term. It is important that doctors have an awareness of the words they use and think about how they could be perceived by patients.”

pregnant lady/Commons.wikimedia.org

In one of the first studies of its kind, researchers from Surrey investigated the impact of PCOS diagnostic consultations and if the language used affected the subsequent wellbeing of patients.

To assess the impact, researchers surveyed 147 females with PCOS and asked about their satisfaction with their consultation, the language used during it and their overall wellbeing.

Researchers found that those who had felt uncomfortable with the consultation process were more likely to report poorer body esteem, reduced quality of life and greater concerns about health in later life. Over a quarter of those surveyed were dissatisfied with how doctors managed their distress and were unhappy with the lack of rapport they had with their practitioners.

“Words matter, as patients often replay conversations that they have had with doctors in a bid to make sense of situations. Although words such as ‘raised’ and ‘irregular’ are simple words they are vague which can cause women to worry, as they automatically think the worst, as they have not been provided with all the facts. Such anxiety at the time of diagnosis, can negatively impact how they feel about themselves as their life progresses,” Professor Ogden added.

 

Early puberty may mean less time in education for girls

Posted on by
Reply

The age at which girls have their first period may influence how long they stay in education.

The findings come from a study in which researchers have tried to untangle the effect of the age at first period from other complex factors that might affect time spent in education, revealing that young women who start their periods earlier may spend less time in the education system.

Previous research has indicated girls who reach sexual maturity earlier may be more prone to developing depression and, in low and middle income countries, more vulnerable to early pregnancy and negative sexual health outcomes, but whether it affects how long they spend in education was unclear.

Studies trying to pick apart the link between the age at which a girl has her first period — called menarche — and how long they spend in education can be muddied by numerous factors, including obesity, socio-economic status, and parental education level.

Now, a team led by researchers at Imperial College London has tried to untangle this complex relationship by turning to genetic markers as a proxy for the age of first period. Using a statistical method called Mendelian randomization, they attempted to remove the influence of external factors such as diet and lifestyle — which are known to be associated with both early menarche and less time in education.

By using genetic markers known to be associated with menarche, the researchers have revealed an impact of the age of first menstruation on the amount of time spent in education.

“It’s well established that the length of time that someone spends in education can have repercussions later on in life,” said Dr Dipender Gill, a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellow at Imperial and lead author of the study. “It is associated with socio-economic status, rates of depression, risk-taking behaviour and a range of health outcomes, so clearly time spent in education is important. This study identifies that the age of puberty may have an effect on the length of time that women spend in education.”

In the study, published in the journal Behaviour Genetics, researchers looked at data from more than 180,000 European women, where 122 points in the genome where a single ‘letter’ difference in the DNA — called a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) — were associated with the onset of menstruation in girls.

The effects of these markers on time spent in education were then estimated using a separate dataset including more than 118,000 women over the age of 30 and of European descent, where participants had provided the number of years spent in education.

Analysis revealed a small but statistically significant causal link between markers for age at menarche and the length of time women spent in education. The findings showed that on average, starting menstruation one year later was associated with approximately an additional 53 days spent in education.

According to the researchers, one possible explanation for the observed effect could be due to young women being treated as more mature due to physical changes, while their emotional development takes time to catch up. Such a delay between physical and mental maturation may give rise to factors which lead to less time spent in education, such as increased risk-taking behaviour, or a failure to adapt psychologically to changes in how they are treated.

The group reports that the data could be skewed by women self-reporting the age they had their first period. In addition, the extended age ranges of women in the study group — born over nine decades (1901 to 1989) — overlaps with societal changes and the establishment of educational programmes. They add that the findings cannot be used to predict how long a young woman might stay in education, based on her age at her first period.

According to the researchers, now that a link has been established, the next step is to work out why age of menarche is having such an effect.

“Once we understand the mechanism, it might give us the opportunity address the discrepancies that we’re seeing,” explained Dr Gill.

“Going through puberty is associated with various physiological and psychological changes,” he adds. “It might be that girls who go through puberty earlier are less well-equipped to deal with the pressures. They may be suffering as a result and this might be manifest in the length of time that they spend in school.”

‘Age at menarche and time spent in education: a Mendelian Randomization study’ by Gill, D. et al, is published in the journal Behavior Genetics.