What exactly is a Dignity Kit? To mark Menstrual Hygiene Day, celebrated every year on May 28, we would like to inform you of the following five important facts.
1. What is a Dignity Kit?
To respond to emergencies, UN agencies, including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UNFPA, the UN agency for sexual and reproductive health, quickly reach people in need. One of the things these organizations and other aid organizations help do is distribute basic supplies to women and girls to maintain their health and dignity. Many of these come in containers called dignity kits.
Dignity kits consist of basic items that women and girls need to protect themselves and maintain hygiene, respect and dignity during disasters, war and other crises.
These items all fit into a backpack or easy-to-carry bucket.
© UNICEF/Eyad El Baba
Girls affected by the ongoing conflict in Gaza receive care and protection packages distributed by UNICEF.
2. What’s inside?
UNFPA’s Dignity Kits vary from community to community. The basic kit includes 10 core essential items.
The kit can also be customized with 39 items. For example, some settings may include headscarves.
It typically contains sanitary pads, bath soap, several pairs of underwear, detergent powder, sanitary pads, a flashlight, toothpaste, toothbrush, and comb.
Each of these items is tailored to the specific needs of women and girls in communities around the world.
© UNFPA
Contents of the UNFPA Dignity Kit.
3. Why is menstrual support important in times of crisis?
All menstruating women and girls need basic supplies. However, in times of crisis, these demands often fall flat.
So the UN emergency relief operation jumped in to provide them with basic necessities. This includes war zones, disaster-affected communities, and refugee camps. In these types of crises, access to basic goods and services is affected, so the UN strives to meet these needs.
Providing menstrual support can improve health, reduce gender-based violence, and more. Read UNFPA’s explanation of the five key reasons here.
Watch the video below to learn more about how UN agencies are helping women and girls in the war-torn Gaza region.
4. How do I get my Dignity Kit?
UNFPA and UNICEF maintain stocks of pre-positioned dignity kits in humanitarian warehouses.
For example, UNFPA items can be delivered anywhere in the world within 48 hours.
UNICEF, which operates the world’s largest humanitarian warehouse in Denmark, has kits available for distribution to areas in crisis.
The UN does not charge beneficiaries for humanitarian assistance. Therefore, dignity kits are provided free of charge along with other emergency assistance.
Below, see how UNFPA reached out to women and girls affected by the deadly earthquake in Turkiye and Syria in 2023.
5. Ending ‘period poverty’
Raising awareness while eradicating so-called “period poverty” is central to UN efforts to address the needs of menstruating women and girls.
UN Women defines menstrual poverty as “the inability to afford and access menstrual products, sanitation facilities, and education and awareness for menstrual health care.” This is caused by stigma, high cost of menstrual products, and lack of water and sanitation facilities.
Ending the stigma of menstruation is part of a UN effort to raise awareness in communities around the world, from Gambia to Nepal.
Check out UNFPA Nepal’s explanation video with English subtitles about the Dignity Kit below:
