Updates

By: Nicole Wickenhauser, Water.org

What would your life be like if you had to walk 3.7 miles each day for water and wait for the cover of darkness to relieve yourself? It’s hard to even imagine. Yet this is today’s reality for millions of women and girls in developing countries around the world. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. Solutions are simanitation solutions. Read more...

By: Yousra Yusuf, Women Deliver

In a Celebrate Solutions column earlier this month, we saw how financial constraints can lead menstruating women to resort to unsanitary alternatives instead of disposable pads in India and other developing countries. Unfortunately, monetary restrictions are not the only obstacles preventing women from maintaining proper menstrual hygiene. Lack of access to sanitary facilities prevents girls and women around the world from reaching their potential in terms of health, education, productivity and self-empowerment. This past year, BRAC, a non-profit organization based in Bangladesh, celebrated tremendous progress made in incorporating menstrual hygiene management into its Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) program. Read more...

By: Smita Gaith, Women Deliver

Last month, the Safaricom Foundation, a charity funded by telecom provider Safaricom Limited and Vodafone Group Foundation, announced it would be supporting the Huru Re-usable Sanitary Pad Project. The project is run by Huru International, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Kenya. 

Years of research have repeatedly demonstrated that the unavailability of sanitary pads plays a major role globally in young girls’ dropout rates and missed days of school. According to Huru’s website, many girls miss 3 to 4 days of school every month due to their menstrual period, and according to UNICEF, 1 in 10 girls in Africa do not attend school while menstruating.  This project supports initiatives that are already in place by the Government of Kenya, which has already pledged money towards providing free sanitary pads.  Read more...