Menstrual Pads for school girls in India
Have you ever thought about how women and girls below the poverty line, get through the periods? What kind of products or solutions do they have in their societies? Does it create any issues? is it worth to bother with this topic?
We can say yes, no and it depends. If we focus on the taboos surrounding this topic, we can see that this topic is not easy going to respond to. It is still hard to talk about and address. If we focus on well-being and education, we see that girls, due to their biological nature, experience consequences which translate to their quality of life.
The no. 1 reason for teenage girls in rural India to miss school days is their menstruation periods. This is mostly due to lack of access to sanitary napkins and infrastructure, combined with a strong cultural taboo. Furthermore, the current products on the market are expensive for a regular rural family. Girls often use old cloths, or something similar, which is risky in terms of health and safety.
Together with Real Relief, our mission is to set up local production facilities, employing women in the sewing and packaging units, for the following effects:
● Employment of local women allowing them to generate a sustainable income
● Secure sustainable supply chain through local production
● Large reduction in sanitary napkin waste
● An affordable solution for the rural families
● Local involvement and capacity building
● Better education and life quality for the girls
One solution we focus on is the Safepad, which was invented by our partner, Real Relief, a Danish company that is working with many NGOs around the world.
The Safepad won the Danish Design Award in 2018 and is trademarked, design protected, and based on safe and proven materials. The Safepad has been tested and succesfully supported girls around the world (visit https://www.realreliefway.com/ for more information)
The priority is to create the production facility on an initial investment. Once the production facility is settled and the pads can be produced, per 1 USD that you or your company donates to this project, Periamma will make sure to get 1 Safepad in the hands of a young girl in rural India – where it is needed the most.
To donate for this project, click on “Donate” in our website, select this project and type the amount you want to donate. For any questions contact Martin Bjergegaard at martin@periamma.org
We hope you will join us in making impact together!
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