Menstrual cycle

The huge gap between how women and men's health are treated costs $1 trillion a year worldwide, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said yesterday. 

Women spend a quarter more of their lives suffering from poor health than men, a disparity that includes an unequal focus on men across medical research, diagnosis and treatment, the report said.

An online petition in Kosovo calling for the lowering or removal of VAT on menstrual products such as menstrual pads, tampons, cups and underwear, has received over 5,600 signatures in just three days.

UN-backed project ensures pupils in Bosnia's Sarajevo Canton will have access to free sanitary pads and free education on menstrual health in the 2022/23 school year.

They say the 18 percent value added tax, VAT, levied on menstrual pads, tampons, cups or underwear is an extra, discriminatory burden on financially-vulnerable women - leading to a phenomenon known as 'period poverty'. But their calls have so far fallen on deaf ears.

“Has anyone considered the trauma girls will experience when boys run up & down hallways, waving tampons & pantomiming insertion?”

Her breast growing bigger was a surprise to her when she entered menopause, as it is not an often discussed effect

"Our fellow citizens are not always able to buy the right supplies or have the basic conditions to maintain hygiene, which is truly devastating for us as a society."

Results 'caused a stir'

Illustration. Photo: Pixabay/kerplode.

Fatigue, pain and shortness of breath are just some of the symptoms that occur in those infected with COVID-19. It turns out that after a long illness there is another consequence that affects women - changes in the monthly cycle.

On social media, some ladies say that after infection their menstruation has become irregular. Others complain of  unusually large blood clots.

Scotland became the first country in the world to provide free menstrual products as part of a global movement against period poverty on Wednesday.

Scotland on Nov. 24 made sanitary products free to all women, becoming the first nation in the world to take such a step against "period poverty."

The measure makes tampons and sanitary pads available at designated public places such as community centres, youth clubs and pharmacies, at an estimated annual cost to taxpayers of 24 million pounds ($32 million U.S.).