Musikot municipality has been declared the municipality where the Chhaupadi practice has been eliminated.
Chhaupadi is a tradition associated with the menstrual taboo, in the western part of Nepal which prohibits Hindu women and girls from participating in normal family activities while menstruating, as they are considered "impure".
The women are banned from the house and are required to live in a cattle shed, or a menstruation hut, a makeshift dwelling, for the duration of their period. At a declaration program, a five-point commitment has also been adopted to make the declaration successful.It was announced that the municipality was free of this harmful practice.
The commitments include making arrangements for providing free sanitary pads at schools, conducting awareness programs on the disadvantages of this practice, providing sex education to the students, making the people aware that menstruation is a normal process in women and implementing the safe motherhood program in an effective manner.
Musikot municipality mayor Devilal Gautam said the municipality has been declared Chhupadi-free municipality in line with the Karnali province government's policy of declaring the entire province free of this practice.
Meanwhile, the Musikot municipality has also been declared the municipality achieving the 'complete immunization' status. The municipality has ensured that all 477 children up to 23 months old in the municipality have been inoculated against various diseases. The municipality has also ensured that children going to be born in the municipality in the coming days will get all the required immunization.
