Since 2 March 2025, Israel has imposed a total aid blockade on Gaza that has caused the complete depletion of hygiene supplies, including sanitary pads for menstrual health.\u00a0Almost 90 per cent<\/a><\/em>\u00a0of water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza has been either destroyed or partially damaged, and fuel for water pumping and distributions has now run out.<\/p>\n As nine in ten households face severe water shortages, women and girls are forced to manage their periods without clean water, soap, supplies or even privacy. Many now describe menstruation as a source of anxiety and isolation.<\/p>\n \u201cMy period started while I was in a crowded shelter. I only had one pad, so I wrapped it with toilet paper to make it last,\u201d said a young girl from Gaza. \u201cI couldn\u2019t wash, and the pain was horrible. I sat in silence crying until the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n There are around\u00a0700,000 women and girls<\/a><\/em>\u00a0of menstruating age in Gaza, including thousands experiencing their first period \u2013 under bombardment and in filthy, cramped displacement camps with no chance of changing in privacy.<\/p>\n No privacy, pads or protection<\/strong><\/p>\n A mother and daughter shelter at a displacement camp in Gaza. In overcrowded conditions with no privacy, women and girls struggle to manage their menstruation. \u00a9Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵFPA\/Media Clinic.<\/p><\/div>\n One doctor in Gaza told Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency,<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day, I witness women battling menstruation, pregnancy and childbirth in degrading conditions. As a woman myself, I feel this deeply. These should be natural experiences, not sources of distress and pain.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cI see strength in women\u2019s eyes, but I also see deep pain and the stripping away of dignity,\u201d continued the doctor, who wished to remain anonymous for safety reasons. \u201cIn emergencies, women and girls are among the most vulnerable. I know exactly what it means to get your period without access to sanitary pads.\u201d<\/p>\n More than 10 million sanitary pads are needed each month in Gaza, yet less than a quarter of this number is available. Many women and girls are forced to use old clothes, torn fabric, or sponges, often reusing them without proper washing.<\/p>\n \u201cI tore my only shirt into pieces so my daughters could use them instead of pads,\u201d said a father of four daughters, displaced from Jabalia in northern Gaza.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n These makeshift solutions are not only painful and undignified, they can cause reproductive, sexually transmitted and urinary tract infections that can lead to long-term gynaecological complications. Thousands of women in Gaza are expected to suffer from these conditions, many of them going untreated due to the collapse of the health system.<\/p>\n In overcrowded shelters, privacy is almost nonexistent. \u201cThere’s no privacy. I wait my turn at the bathroom for hours just to change or bathe,\u201d shared one girl. Another said simply, \u201cI use pieces of my clothes instead of pads\u2026 and I got an infection.\u201d<\/p>\n The psychological toll is just as severe. Women and girls speak of deep shame, fear of leaks, and constant anxiety. One adolescent girl expressed the deep frustration and helplessness so many feel: \u201cEvery time my period comes, I wish I weren\u2019t a girl.\u201d<\/p>\n A woman walks through the destroyed Khan Younis displacement camp, amid a dire shortage of hygiene supplies. \u00a9 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵFPA Palestine\/Media Clinic<\/p><\/div>\n Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵFPA has remained on the frontlines of the response in Gaza, and as co-lead on\u00a0coordinating gender-based violence protection<\/a><\/em> is working to ensure menstrual health is fully integrated across humanitarian assistance in Gaza.<\/p>\n Since October 2023, more than 300,000 women and girls received a two-month supply of disposable menstrual pads, and over 12,000 new mothers were provided with postpartum kits, supporting them through the most vulnerable period following childbirth.<\/p>\n Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵFPA also distributed menstrual hygiene supplies<\/a><\/em>, along with cash and voucher assistance, to help more than 150,000 women and girls meet their basic hygiene needs. Through this flexible support, displaced women were able to purchase what they needed most, from pads and soap to underwear and towels.<\/p>\n In addition, over 6,200 adolescent kits have been distributed across Gaza, providing hygiene items, educational materials, and items such as whistles and torches. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵFPA has supported<\/a><\/em> 16 women and girls\u2019 safe spaces, which have provided essential services to more than 175,000 people through gender-based violence prevention, psychosocial support, risk mitigation, and sexual reproductive health and rights awareness. Finally, six mobile maternity units have also been deployed to support health facilities with life-saving supplies, including treatments for urinary and reproductive tract infections.<\/p>\n \u201cFood keeps us alive, but pads, soap and privacy let us live with dignity,\u201d said Maysa*, a displaced woman in Khan Younis. \u201cWhen we receive hygiene kits, it feels like someone finally sees us. They don\u2019t just protect our health, they protect our dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n *Names changed for privacy and protection<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 02 June 2025 GAZA STRIP, Occupied Palestinian Territory \u2013\u00a0\u201cSometimes I need pads and soap more than I need food,\u201d said Aisha*, a young displaced girl in Gaza, revealing a serious burden too often overlooked in crisis settings \u2013 menstrual health. Since 2 March 2025, Israel has imposed a total aid blockade on Gaza that […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[2337],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1769,2005,6257,2533,1741,1745,6245,1841],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-308072","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-release","document-source-united-nations-population-fund-unfpa","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-gender","document-subject-health","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","document-subject-violence","document-subject-women","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/308072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/308072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308076,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/308072\/revisions\/308076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=308072"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=308072"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=308072"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=308072"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=308072"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=308072"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=308072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Ensuring menstrual health<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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