Life Bleed Pride: Re-usable Sanitary Pad Project
Menstruation and hygiene management remains a daunting challenge in the life of many adolescents and women alike. In Malawi, just like in many African countries, menstruation is a very private matter that is rarely talked about in public. The muteness of this subject coupled with the disadvantaged socioeconomic position of girls and women in Malawi propagates further inaccessibility to the much needed sanitary pads.
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Young women need to change their sanitary towels three or four times per day especially during the first three days of menstruation (Set Her Free, 2014). While this is the case, the vast majority of women and girls in most Sub Saharan developing African countries use rags, usually torn from old T-shirts, leaves, mud, animal skin, toilet paper, bark cloth instead of sanitary napkins. According to YCD’s 2017 survey, in 10 primary and 10 secondary schools in 2 northern and 1 central districts of Malawi, the menstrual management techniques used are no different except for the use of mud, leaves and animal skins. Rags are washed and reused several times. It was found out that there is no private place to change and clean the rags and often no safe water and soap to wash them properly especially in the rural areas. If they chance to wash, cultural norms and beliefs also force them to seek for well hidden places even in their homes to dry the rags. These places are often damp, dark and unhealthy. This practice is responsible for a significant proportion of illness and infection associated with female reproductive health.
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The introduction of commercial sanitary towels has not completely saved the situation considering that the associated price of the towel is not affordable to many Malawians. A 2017 survey by YCD has found out that prices of a pack of sanitary pads for different companies range from MK900 (Kotex and Purity), Mk 1000 (Ultrex) to MK 1400 -Mk 1700 (always). These prices are more than $1.00, which according to the World Bank’s 2017 assessment is above the daily income of many Malawian households. It therefore becomes difficult for an individual common Malawian household to opt for sanitary towels over other family needs.
Realizing that problems of menstruation hygiene and management are countering efforts of government of Malawi and other stakeholders to promote equal education for girls, YCD initiated a reusable sanitary pad project. The project seeks to increase accessibility to sanitary towels for girls in schools and reduce psycho-social problems that are associated with menstruation and hygiene management, more especially those in rural areas and orphanages, as the gap between rural and urban schools is huge in terms of income and gender inequality. The provision of free reusable sanitary towels, reusable towel making trainings and menstruation hygiene and management civic education to girls in poverty wracked areas will enhance the enrollment and retention of girls in school thus having a long-term impact on an individual girl and her community development.
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To learn more about the project please download the project concept note here