Period Poverty: A Story from Region 6

Posted by liaison on April 14th, 2023 Posted in: #CC/Academic List, #Health Interest List, #Health Sciences List, #Public/K-12 List, All Members

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Why do we expect to find toilet paper and paper towels in a public restroom, but feminine hygiene products are considered optional?  On this episode of the NNLM Discovery Podcast, Region 6 Communications & Finance Coordinator Miles Dietz-Castel shares the story of Richland County Public Health director Dr. Julie Chaya’s initiative to combat period poverty in her community of Mansfield Ohio.

Period Poverty is the struggle many low-income women and girls face while trying to afford menstrual products, which contributes to increased economic vulnerability due to absenteeism and health concerns.  With a lack of access to menstrual health supplies, 1 in 4 young women miss class and/or work monthly.  Menstrual products are not covered by food stamps or WIC (The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children).

With support from the NNLM, Dr. Chaya partnered with menstrual products innovator Aunt Flow to pilot the Richland County Free Flow program, a menstrual health equity program that provides free menstrual health supplies, menstrual health education, and maintains an interactive map detailing locations in Richland County that provide menstrual health resources and information. The program aims to address period poverty, and increase awareness of menstrual health inequity of menstruators in Richland County. The program is now expanding state-wide.

You can view a short video about the story here on the NLM YouTube Channel.

The NNLM is the outreach arm of the National Library of Medicine with the mission to advance the progress of medicine and improve the public health by providing all U.S. health professionals with equal access to biomedical information and improving the public’s access to information to enable them to make informed decisions about their health. The seven Health Sciences Libraries function as the Regional Medical Library (RML) for their respective region, with Region 6 consisting of: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. To learn more about Region 6 visit: http://www.nnlm.gov/about/regions/region6.