Free sanitary products to be available at over 30 locations across county Mayo
Mayo County Council have secured €15,000 in funding from the Department of Health to help fund the initiative that is part of the council's wider responsibility to the national Healthy Ireland strategy.
Period poverty is defined as the 'inadequate access to menstrual hygiene, including period products (for example, sanitary towels and tampons), washing, waste management facilities and education' by Health Ireland.
Providing free sanitary products in public buildings was recommended in a report drafted by the Period Poverty Sub-Committee of the National Strategy for Women and Girls Committee. Published in 2021, the report recommended local authorities make period products readily available in libraries, community centres, leisure centres, and other public buildings.
Elmer Pieterse, the Healthy County Coordinator for Mayo said,
'This is about more than hygiene - it's about dignity, health, and equity. Through the Healthy Ireland Fund, we are working to support all members of our community, and this is a key step forward."
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Mr Pieterse said
"It is about making these things accessible to people who are experiencing health inequality due to financial constraints, Mayo is also a very rural county so we want to make things accessible throughout the county.'
Certain groups find themselves more susceptible to experiencing period poverty. These can include; women in financially, physically or mentally abusive relationships, women experiencing homelessness, or women in a single-parent family. A scheme where sanitary products are made accessible will afford these groups groups a greater chance of avoiding period poverty and offer them greater health equity.
Mr Pieterse confirmed that a list of the 30 locations will be available on the Mayo.ie website within the next few days.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Journal
4 hours ago
- The Journal
Warning over high rates of unintended pregnancies among women using apps rather than contraception
THE NEW NATIONAL Sexual Health Strategy has said that there is a 'clear need' for more information for women on the reliability of various contraception methods, particularly apps that track the menstrual cycle. The strategy, published today by the government, said that cycle-tracking apps claim to have a failure rate – which means an unintended pregnancy rate – of 7% in any given year. 'But there are international concerns following a significant proportion of related presentations to termination of pregnancy service clinicians in other jurisdictions,' the strategy says. It said that unplanned pregnancy rates for 'natural family planning methods' have been estimated at between 24-25% in any given year, higher than condoms at 10-18%, or prescription contraception at 0.05-10%. Unprotected sex will result in pregnancy for 86% of couples trying to conceive over the course of a single year, it said. Cycle-tracking apps are typically used for women to log their menstrual cycle and receive a prediction of when their next period is due to come. Many of these apps will also encourage users to log their mood, sexual activity, and any hormonal symptoms in order to improve its measurements. Based on this information, the apps will break down the user's cycle into a number of phases. Generally it will highlight when you are most and least fertile. An example of one of these apps. There has been a significant increase in the number of women using cycle-tracking apps in recent years. For those trying to conceive, the apps' highlighting of potential phases in one's cycle where they may be more fertile is not a problem. However, there are now women who use the apps' predictions of when they are least fertile as a type of 'natural contraceptive' – basically, having sex unprotected or otherwise without a form of contraceptive during this time. What else is in the National Sexual Health Strategy? Department of Health Department of Health The strategy contains both its achievements so far and its plans for the years ahead. One big part of the scheme is the expansion of the Free Contraceptive Scheme, which was initially introduced in September 2022 for girls and women aged between 17 and 25. It was then expanded to include those up to age 35 for whom prescription contraception is deemed clinically suitable. Now, it has committed to steadily increasing the age at which women can avail of free contraception until they reach 55 years old. Advertisement It is also considering potentially including 16-year-olds in the scheme, who may require access to contraceptives for treatment of menstrual disorders. Sixteen year olds can medically consent to access contraceptives, but not legally consent to sexual activity, it noted, making this a slightly tricky area. It said that it would scope and develop necessary legislative frameworks to provide for this. Speaking on the matter, Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said she did not think that changing the legal age of consent for sexual activity would happen, but that she would take a health-led approach when it came to contraception. 'There is a difficulty there, because the the age of consent is 17. But I recognise that young people need to be protected from a public health perspective. 'I would take a public health approach to that first and foremost, but I recognise that those ages are there for very important reasons from the Department of Justice perspective,' said the minister. 'I still think the justice approach about making sure that there is an age of consent to protect vulnerable girls, and you know, we have those those ages for very good reasons around predatory behavior, there's a lot of different very good reasons for that,' she said. When pushed on whether the legal age of consent set down in legislation might be lowered, the minister said she did not believe that would be reopened. Separately, it would scope out the potential of improving access to the minority of people who opt for sterilisation. The strategy also committed to expanding the remit of the MyOptions helpline service that currently deals with women who have unplanned pregnancies to also be available to people struggling with recurrent miscarriage, unsuccessful fertility treatment, and complex menopause. It also wants to expand its unit currently responsible for the surveillance of HIV and STIs to include outbreak and case management. The Social Democrats' Health spokesperson, Padraig Rice, said that while the 'long overdue' publication of the strategy is welcome, it contains gaps that must be addressed. He criticised that commitments within the strategy were not matched by funding commitments and had no timelines for delivery. 'Instead, we got vague commitments to 'strive towards', 'explore' and 'widen access',' he said. 'In 2025, we still have 10 counties with no public sexual health clinics – Cavan, Kildare, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Longford, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon and Wicklow. And this strategy is the best the Minister could do?' He noted that the strategy contained only 'passing mentions' to transgender people, saying that a new healthcare model for transgender people is 'desperately needed'. The full strategy is available to view here . Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Irish Times
Ireland's STI clinics struggling to cater for increasing demand
There is 'inequitable access' to public services for sexually-transmitted infections (STIs), as clinics work at capacity and are 'struggling to cater for increasing demand', a new strategy has found. On Wednesday, the Department of Health published its new National Sexual Health Strategy for 2025 to 2030, which highlighted priorities in terms of increasing access to free contraception, and expanding capacity for STIs, including the home STI testing service. According to the strategy, there are insufficient staff resources and clinic time, resulting in increased waiting times at public STI clinics. 'The challenges posed by emerging STIs, including mpox, have put further pressure on existing constrained services, highlighting the need for additional capacity in our STI clinics to support greater service resilience, and surge capacity,' the document says. READ MORE However, the introduction of a free home STI testing service is estimated to have increased testing capacity by about 33 per cent. The report states that access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which prevents HIV/Aids, has increased significantly since it was introduced in 2019. There were 1,763 people accessing PrEP in 2020, which rose to 6,974 by the final quarter of last year. 'While demand for the PrEP service continues to grow, many PrEP services are reaching (or have reached) capacity,' the report added. The strategy sets out a number of areas it seeks to address in a bid to improve the sexual health of the island. It is envisaged free contraception, which is currently available to those aged 17 to 35, will be extended to those up to 55 years old, and that STI testing will be increased. The strategy said a model of care will be developed for sexual health services, focusing on: prevention; diagnosis; treatment; information and surveillance for STIs and HIV; and on 'improving geographic equity'. Access to vaccines that support sexual health will also be improved. [ STIs on the rise: 'It's seen as something shameful or dirty, or they're embarrassed to be going to a clinic' Opens in new window ] However, the plan also highlights 'potential challenges' to realising the strategic plan due to the country being in a 'period of significant and ongoing change'. These challenges include: demographic changes; increased incidence of chronic conditions and the spectrum of disability and neurodiversity; multiple drug-resistant STI variants; and increasing demand for services, both in terms of capacity and diversity of need. Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the focus is on developing and expanding services 'that meet the needs of our population at every stage of life'. András Költő, a researcher at the Health Promotion Research Centre at University of Galway, and co-ordinator of the Irish National Survey of Sexual Health, said after Covid there was a rise in STIs as people began to meet again following periods of restrictions. 'The problem we are seeing is there appears to be a consistent rise in some infections. We are seeing this in cohorts that we wouldn't previously have seen it in,' he said. 'Young women having higher rates of gonorrhoea which we wouldn't have seen. If untreated, this can have a long-term impact on their reproductive health.' Speaking in advance of his conference on sexual health promotion on Thursday, he said there is a concerning trend among sexually active 15-year-olds – a decrease in the use of condoms. 'Porn is changing. Things which were widespread – such as using condoms – are not there anymore. And we know that many young people use porn as education, so if they're not seeing that then that will have an impact,' he said. Mr Költő said there has also been a rise in the use of IUDs and other methods of contraception, however he stressed that it was 'important that we're not putting all the burden of contraception on girls'.
Irish Independent
14 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Just one in six eligible for free GP card have availed of it, Health Minister to tell committee
The minister will make her first appearance before the committee to consider further revised estimates for the Department of Health in 2025. She will point out that that "through Medical Cards and GP Visit Cards about 2.3m people have access to free GP care. When the income thresholds were increased to the median income, we estimated 430,000 to be newly eligible. The take up has only been 72,500." She is saying there are different reasons for the lower uptake and is urging people who are eligible to apply for the GP visit card. She will also to point out how increased investment in the health service has not been matched by productivity levels in hospitals. "Over the last five years we have increased real expenditure in our hospitals by approximately 36pc above inflation,' she will say. "This includes an average increase of 18pc more staff on the ground. At the same time, we can see that activity in our hospitals - inpatients, day cases, outpatients and emergency department presentations - has increased on average 12pc over the same time period. "This shows activity on average has fallen behind investment. This average also masks considerable variation in performance. "For example, one of our model four hospitals only saw a 3pc increase in overall activity from a 36pc increase in workforce and a real expenditure increase of 42pc. "In contrast, another model four hospital saw a 22pc increase in overall activity from a 40pc increase in workforce and 46pc increase in real expenditure." The minister will say: "I have a higher expectation of performance in return for public investment because every cent invested must produce a result that responds to the demands we face. ADVERTISEMENT "This isn't about efficiency for the sake of metrics, though those are vital, this is about making everyone's life easier when they have to engage with the healthcare system. "This is about ensuring that when you need an appointment, you get it within the Sláintecare model." She will point to "unparalleled increases in investment over the last five years'. The five-day working week over seven days for hospital staff is a "key priority", she will say. "This is not only about consultants, many other staff in community and across hospitals are needed to operate our services on a seven-day basis. "This is a key reform goal for me, and I am delighted that there has been agreement between the HSE and all staff representatives on moving to working across seven days. This agreement means up to 10pc of staff, in addition to consultants, will be rostered over weekends. "I am now focused on ensuring that the HSE delivers these changes and the public can access the services they need at the time they need them." She will tell the committee that "a key area of focus for 2025 underpinning increased efficiency and performance is the digitisation of our services. "It is no exaggeration to say that staff have been trapped in a work environment of pen and paper for many years. "We are increasing our investment in digital health in 2025 by €100m."
