Menstrual Health in Gaza

Women and girls in Gaza, experiencing the challenges of over two months of conflict, are facing dire conditions during their menstrual periods. With limited access to food, water, and sanitary items due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, approximately 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced.

In the southern city of Rafah, 25-year-old Hala Ataya described resorting to using pieces of cloth or cutting up her children’s clothes as makeshift sanitary towels for her period. The scarcity of resources has forced her to share a UN-run school’s toilet and shower facilities with hundreds of others, creating unsanitary conditions.

The dire situation is evident in the transformed streets of Rafah, now functioning as open-air latrines, covered with piles of rubbish. The overall lack of security, food, water, and hygiene has left residents feeling humiliated and desperate.

Samar Shalhoub, an 18-year-old displaced from Gaza City, described surviving in makeshift shelters filled with filth, resorting to using rags during her period, leading to chafing and skin infections. Requests for contraceptive pills have surged as women seek to manage their menstrual cycles.

NGOs, including Doctors Without Borders and ActionAid, have reported the critical shortage of water for washing, inadequate sanitary facilities, and the prolonged use of menstrual products, increasing the risk of infection. Many women are forced to use diapers or baby swaddling cloths due to the lack of suitable menstrual supplies.

The dire circumstances have led to weight loss, decreased personal hygiene, and emotional distress among women facing displacement. With limited resources and increasing prices, women are forced to resort to unconventional and unhygienic measures during their menstrual periods, adding to the challenges posed by the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

_{Repurposed article originally published in the Barron’s}