Cloth pads, toilet paper, or parts of disposable diapers are some of the alternatives that Venezuelan women use amid the crisis, given the difficulties of access to menstrual hygiene products, according to a study presented on April 22 by the Salud para Todas (Health for All Women) alliance.

For the research, focused on women’s health during the health crisis and the pandemic, 203 women were interviewed and 640 medical records were reviewed in the states of Aragua, Carabobo, Miranda, Lara, and the Capital District, explained Magdymar León, coordinator of the Venezuelan Association for an Alternative Sex Education (AVESA). The study found that 30.6% of the needs for menstrual hygiene are currently unaddressed.

Only 4 in 10 women can buy menstrual hygiene products regularly, while 3 in 10 can buy them “sometimes”. Six in every 10 women expressed that the products are “expensive or very expensive.”

Regarding the means of acquisition, 23.5% of women and girls indicated having to share a packet with somebody else in order to be able to afford the product, borrowing the pads from a friend or relative, exchanging them for another good, having to wait for a donation, or making them at home.

27.7% of the interviewed women and girls are often in the need of replacing menstrual hygiene products with homemade alternatives, including cloth, gauze, or cotton pads, bond or toilet paper, and parts of disposable diapers that have been cut and shaped for the absorption of menstrual flow.

The surveyed women and girls reported using aloe vera, povidone-iodine, bicarbonate, chamomile, or blue soap originally intended for laundry as alternatives for hygiene during their menstrual period.

“53.7% of the surveyed women in poor communities considered that the use of homemade alternatives to menstrual hygiene products has created difficulties for them. 60% of them are teenage girls, ”said Carlos Ramos Mirabal, a researcher at AVESA.

According to the research, 30.6% of women cannot afford pain relievers because they are considered expensive or very expensive.

In the field of sexual and reproductive health, 9 in 10 women have not been able to plan their pregnancies, while 7 in 10 do not use contraceptives and protection against sexually transmitted infections.

In total, the study revealed that 40.1% of the needs for contraception and sexual protection are currently unaddressed.

Other diseases

According to the results presented by Ramos Mirabal, 2 in every 10 women interviewed suffer from high blood pressure, two percentage points above the average for Latin America.

Among the women and girls interviewed in poor communities, 30.3% cannot access treatment for hypertension, while 40% admit not being able to afford treatment.

According to the results, 5.7% of the women in the sample have developed malignant tumors classified as breast, ovarian, or cervical cancer.

90% of those who reported having malignant tumors cannot access chemotherapies or radiotherapies, while half reported not being able to afford or access them due to financial problems or lack of aid.

“We are increasingly moving towards the privatization of health and the neglect of the obligations of the State,” said Ramos Mirabal.

Another key finding indicates that 21.5% of the interviewees reported anxiety symptoms, five percentage points above the average in the Americas. There is also a prevalence of signs or symptoms of depression in 20.4% of the surveyed women and girls, 13.7 percentage points above the average according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

In the context of the pandemic, the study indicates that attention has focused on COVID-19, leaving aside the attention of other diseases in the public sector that had already been diminished by the crisis.

6 in 10 women report that public health services are “fair to very poor,” and the same number indicates that they cannot afford general medicine, gynecology, and mastology consultations.

Translated by José Rafael Medina