After gracing the grand coronation night of Puteri Indonesia 2022, Miss Universe 2021 Harnaaz Sandhu joined the celebrations of World Menstrual Hygiene Day 2022 along with the Plan International Indonesia Foundation and the newly crowned Puteri Indonesia 2022 Laksmi Deneefe Suardana and government representatives as they held a discussion and socialization of menstrual hygiene management and period poverty.

Earlier this year Harnaaz Sandhu, Miss Universe 2021, announced the Global Menstrual Equity Coalition while visiting India for homecoming. The coalition's purpose is to bring poverty to an end, first in the place of origin, then globally. The Miss Universe Organization (MUO) teamed up with Plan International, local entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham alias Pad Man, and social organisations DDB For Good and Changing Our World to promote menstrual equality, beginning with a pilot programme in India and then expanding to the Philippines.

During the discussion, Harnaaz shared her own experience with the stigma that still exists around menstruation. He informed me that, despite having a mother who worked as a doctor, he had always felt uncomfortable discussing menstruation as a youngster. “Imagine, for girls who do not have a place to discuss this and consider it taboo to discuss menstruation. I want to break this stigma, so that young women feel more comfortable dealing with their menstrual health,” she said.

Harnaaz also raised in this discussion this issue of period poverty, the fact that women do not always have access to safe and hygienic menstrual products, or knowledge or education on how to regulate their menstruation.

“Period poverty has become a global problem. In some areas many girls even drop out of school because they do not know how to regulate their menstrual cycle in public. To overcome this we must fight the stigma around menstruation and help educate women and provide menstrual products. We cannot do this alone, men must also support this cause, otherwise their wives, sisters, mothers and friends will not succeed,” Harnaaz shared.

Further, she added, “My advocacy focuses on empowering women in socializing MHM together with various organizations and one of them is Plan International, and today with Plan Indonesia, we are helping young people take serious action on MHM issues.”