Nurulhidayah Denies Period Poverty An Issue In M Sia Claims Pads Are Cheap

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Nurulhidayah Ahmad Zahid, the daughter of Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, has denied the seriousness of period poverty in Malaysia, claiming sanitary pads do not cost a lot.
She made the remarks in dismissing claims that women were resorting to getting pregnant in order to avoid periods.
“I am alert about it (pregnancy to avoid periods). But not in Malaysia. Where are the high menstrual pad prices? I do research on pads, and I launched a menstrual pad brand so I (would) know," she said in a reply to a comment.
She further claimed that the period poverty in Malaysia was not comparable to India, as there were zakat centres and NGOs to help.
"The Malaysian population is not as many as India. Why do we want to look back? We should take examples from progressive countries and not those kinds of countries (India). Move forward not backward,” she said.
Period poverty is generally known as the lack of access to menstrual products, knowledge on menstruation or hygiene facilities.
Regular occurrence
Nurulhidayah's remarks come after Putrajaya under Budget 2022 said it would provide free personal hygiene kits every month to about 130,000 teenage girls from B40 families to tackle the issue of period poverty.
Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said an estimated 130,000 teenage girls from B40 families do not have access to hygiene products, such as menstrual pads, due to financial constraints.
This led to Pejuang Women’s Youth chief Nurul Ashikin Mabahwi urging the government to distribute hygiene kits and menstrual pads to all B40 women, citing reported incidents of struggling women resorting to pregnancy in order to avoid periods.
In a recent report by Utusan Malaysia, an NGO called Sanitary Bank Malaysia claimed that a handful of teenage girls from poor and low-income families were willing to get pregnant to avoid buying pads for nine months.
The NGO said that it was a regular occurrence in rural areas and many women tend to think about avoiding the need to spend on pads for nine months, but not the expenses needed for a child after they have given birth.
Nurulhidayah, however, dismissed this as a ridiculous notion when commenting on a now-deleted Sinar Harian article which cited Nurul Ashikin's remarks.

 “My husband is asking if the free menstrual pads aren’t used, does that mean (a person) will get pregnant?

“I have never heard of doctors urging the use of free pads to avoid getting pregnant,” she said.
This triggered angry responses bashing the businessperson for dismissing period poverty.
Repeatedly, Nurulhidayah (above) would respond that she knows period poverty exists, but that it was not a major problem in Malaysia, and that she was only mocking news that alleged women were getting pregnant to stop menstruating.
She also said she was not against the distribution of free pads, but that it would not be a viable long-term solution.
“Give people education. Give (them) capital for trade. Teach until (they become) smart.
“It is not that I don’t agree with the distribution of free pads. But until when?
“What happens to those women when the government changes again. A different government means different policies. The problem will never end,” she said.  - Mkini

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