Abstract

“Ageing is a pause,” Sometimes with a cause, but often seems like a loss, and her life could go on a toss, if we didn’t pause, to understand woman’s menopause. Menopause remains a taboo topic in India, leaving many women without proper support and vulnerable to chronic conditions linked to this transition and therefore women are often left to navigate this transition without medical guidance, emotional support, or reliable information. Raising awareness is crucial to breaking stigma and supporting wellbeing. India has approximately 103 to 140 million menopausal and post-menopausal women. Roughly 15% of Indian women aged 30 to 49 experience menopause or premature/early menopause, with higher occurrences in rural areas (about 16%) than urban areas (about 12%). Indian women have started talking about periods and what adolescent girls go through. We have come a long way in terms of menstruation and are even talking about period leave. Menstrual leave in India is being heavily debated. Supporters call it a vital health and dignity right, while critics and the Supreme Court of India warn it may hurt women’s hiring chances, reinforce gender stereotypes, and lead to legal or executive overreach. Only a few states like Bihar, Odisha, and Kerala have sector-specific rules, leaving national policy fragmented.
Karnataka state is boasting to become India’s first dedicated women’s health policy state by featuring the “Ruthuthaare” an initiative, focused heavily on perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause issues. Most Country’s health systems across the globe, women’s health programs target maternal & reproductive health, without adequately addressing Menopause, leaving a significant gap in care and awareness. The policy is still being developed in Karnataka, its eventual impact will depend on the final guidelines, funding, workforce training, screening protocols, referral pathways and access & availability of specialist services to rural women in Karnataka. If implemented effectively, and outcomes demonstrated, the initiative could provide a model for integrating menopause care into public-health system elsewhere in India.

Materials and methods: This article is a critical review of the policy in development, claiming to be first of its sort and author discusses implementation hurdles.

Outcome: As of now it appears more of verbal assurances as reaching rural and urban poor women is heavily dependent on ASHAs and not putting the responsibility on departmental field staff of ANMs community health officers, and medical officers who are much better qualified & experienced. Biggest challenge is to take the envisaged specially trained manpower to Remote Rural and Urban poor in Karnataka.