Girl, 18, who was banished

to a SHED because she 

was on her period dies 

Eighteen-year-old Tulasi Shahi, from Nepal's western Dailekh district,

 died on Friday after being bitten by a poisonous snake while staying

 in an animal shed where she was required to sleep during her period. 

(file photo of one of the chhaupadi huts)

After being bitten by a snake

• Eighteen-year-old Tulasi Shahi died after being bitten 
• by a poisonous snake
• Shahi, from Nepal's Dailekh district, was sleeping in a 
• shed during her period 
• The practice of 'chhaupadi' banishes menstruating 
• girls and women to animal sheds for the duration of 
• their period as they are thought to be impure 
• Chhaupadi was outlawed in 2005 but it still continues
•  in Nepal's remote west

A teenage girl in Nepal has died after being bitten by a snake

 while banished to a shed during her monthly menstruation.  

Eighteen-year-old Tulasi Shahi, from Nepal's western Dailekh 

district, died on Friday after being bitten by a poisonous snake 

while staying in an animal shed where she was required to sleep

 during her period.

The practice of 'chhaupadi' banishes menstruating girls and

women to animal sheds for the duration of their period as they

 are thought to be impure.

Shahi's death highlights the dangers of an age-old Hindu practice 

that persists despite being banned over a decade ago, a charity

 said on Monday. 

The teen was bitten on the fourth night of her monthly 

chhaupadi stay. 

The snake had entered her shed on Wednesday, the third night 

of her period, so she moved to a cowshed at her uncle's house -

 but the snake followed. 

On Thursday night, the snake breached the cowshed and bit Shahi

 on the head and leg while she was sleeping.  

Her mother took her to a shaman after the snake attacked, but 

he could not cure her. 

Shahi was then taken to a health clinic, but workers did not have 

the necessary antivenom medicine that she needed, Shahi's family said.

After seven hours of battling the venom, Shahi died on Friday morning.  

'If she was given proper treatment, she would have survived,' 

Kamala Shahi, a cousin of Ms. Shahi's who works at a government

 health post told The New York Times. 'She died because

 of superstition.'

Chhaupadi was outlawed in 2005, but reports of women and girls

 dying in attacks by wild animals and from snake bites, or being

 raped while they are in seclusion show the archaic practice

 still continues in Nepal's remote west.

The practice of 'chhaupadi' banishes menstruating girls and 

women to animal sheds for the duration of their period as they

 are thought to be impure (file photo)

Similar confinement also occurs when women give birth.

'Sadly, this is not an isolated case as every day, girls and

 women in parts of Nepal are forced to live outside their 

communities just because they are menstruating,' Tim Wainwright,

 Chief Executive at WaterAid UK said in the statement.

'The ancient practice of chhaupadi is perhaps the most

 acute example of how the stigmatisation of periods impinges

 on women's everyday lives.'

As well as physical exclusion, girls are forbidden during their 

period from taking part in ordinary communal activities. 

They are often without basic necessities, such as sanitary pads.

In December, a 15-year-old girl in western Nepal suffocated 

to death after being forced to stay in a poorly ventilated shed. 

WaterAid also said it had reports that a 14-year-old had died

in recent weeks from an illness contracted while staying 

in a chhaupadi shed.

Although there have been no reported prosecutions, the

 Nepalese government 'has committed to break the silence

 that shrouds menstruation and eradicate chhaupadi... 

(and) develop a national menstrual hygiene policy

 framework,' WaterAid said.  

(The Mail, UK)