World Menstrual Hygiene Day: periods don’t stop for pandemics

For world Menstrual Hygiene Day on 28 May, 3Sixty Biomedicine – a South African-based company specialising in providing natural solutions for common women’s health issues – has opted to shed light on a condition that doesn’t get as much attention as they believe it should; menorrhagia. 

Menorrhagia refers to heavy or prolonged vaginal bleeding with one’s menstrual cycle and according to 3Sixty Biomedicine, 30% of women suffer from this painful and debilitating condition on an ongoing basis.

“28 May is recognised worldwide as Menstrual Hygiene Day, which aims to bring together the voices and actions of non-profits, government agencies, individuals, the private sector and the media to promote good menstrual hygiene management (MHM) for all women and girls.

“3Sixty Biomedicine believes a lack of education on the issue of menstruation, persisting taboos and stigma, limited access to hygienic menstrual products and poor sanitation infrastructure is prevalent and undermines the educational opportunities, health and overall social status of women and girls around the world. Further to this and not as well championed as poor menstruation, is a common condition known as menorrhagia,” said the company in a statement. 

RELATED: Health tips to help reduce PMS symptoms

Symptoms of menorrhagia include soaking through one or more sanitary pads or tampons every hour for several consecutive hours, needing to use double sanitary protection to control your menstrual flow, needing to wake up to change sanitary protection during the night, bleeding for longer than a week and passing large blood clots.

“Painful symptoms and discomfort are just some of the things women contend with behind closed doors despite their busy lives. Debilitating symptoms like these add pressure to the lives of busy women and sadly this condition is still largely underrated,” added the company. 

According to 3Sixty Biomedicine’s CEO, Walter Mbatha, too many women suffer from this kind of commonplace health issue without realising that they’re not alone and that there are more natural treatments and alternatives available to them.

“It seems only fitting that I also share our excitement with the public about a new product under the Salome range called Salome Menstrual Pain that is due to be launched in early June to help women suffering from minor spasm associated with menstrual period,” exclaimed Mbatha in a statement. 

“For those who do seek medical intervention, there are several treatments that can be administered depending on a woman’s age, coexisting medical diseases, family history and desire for fertility. These include contraceptives, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, tranexamic acid or even surgery such as a hysterectomy,” stated 3Sixty Biomedicine.

Inspired by a growing shift and demand for more natural treatments by consumers and medical practitioners, 3Sixty Biomedicine created and recently launched the Salome range that offers relief to consumers from a myriad of common but often untreated women’s health issues based on natural herbal ingredients with the added benefit of few side effects.

Within the Salome range and used specifically to treat the condition of menorrhagia, 3Sixty Biomedicine is now offering to consumers a product called Salome Heavy Menstrual Bleeding that draws on a natural ingredient and herb called Capsella bursa-pastoris, also known as Shepherd’s purse.

“This plant has shown to significantly reduce the blood flow volumes for women suffering from menorrhagia, containing compounds such as tannins, thiamine, acetylcholine and flavonoids. This herb has been used for decades to treat uterine bleeding and postpartum haemorrhaging and has been shown to increase smooth muscle contraction in the uterus, which may facilitate the regulation of menstrual blood flow,” explained the company. 

3Sixty Biomedicine believes that these natural remedies could be part of the solution that the world is focused on solving, particularly on Menstrual Hygiene Day, to ensure that millions of women and girls are no longer kept from reaching their full potential.

“It’s time we #BreaktheSilence about common but often untreated women’s health issues. As a business we want to offer women who suffer from this debilitating and inconvenient condition, as well as other conditions, the opportunity to treat them with products containing natural ingredients, and with few side effects,” concluded Mbatha.

The Salome Heavy Menstrual Bleeding product is already available on 3sixtybiomedicine.co.za and on the Takealot website. The Salome Menstrual Pain product will be available in June.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.