New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has already been crowned as the much needed world leader, given how she has handled the coronavirus crisis. Social media has time and again expressed that they would love to have the ‘Kiwi queen’ take charge of their country.
Ardern has added another feather to her hat by providing free sanitary products to all schoolgirls. According to reports, the government will provide funds under the policy that aims to end period poverty. People living in low socio-economic areas will have primary access to this facility, which will then be rolled out across states on opt-in basis.
This comes after the common problem reported across the globe where many girls miss school due to unavailability of proper sanitary products. Many even use rags or make-shift pads which lead to infections and an overall unhealthy lifestyle.
Earlier this year, Scotland became the first country in the world, to make sanitary products freely available to all women.
Meanwhile, India is way behind with its tax impositions on an essential product, unavailability of pads in public washrooms or free distribution in educational institutions. And while making sanitary products free is a far catch, perhaps a primary move would be not wrapping them hastily in a newspaper when purchasing, and reducing the stigma of it being some sort of an illegal trade, or a crime to bleed that makes women less pious.
New Zealand has planned to mark June 15 as the COVID-19 elimination day after health authorities detected no new coronavirus case for the 13th day in a row on Thursday. The country, which has won global praises for its COVID-19 management, had reported the last positive case on May 22.
New Zealand has so far confirmed 1,154 COVID-19 cases with 22 deaths. The country announced the highest level of alert due to the pandemic in late April, which included strict restrictions and suspension of all its economic activities.
On June 15, the government is expected to announce the last phase of measures against the pandemic. While restrictions are expected to be lifted, the country is most likely to keep its borders closed until further notice.
