The latest issue of Bitch Magazine contains a piece that has reignited my curiosity on the subject of menstrual pad donations. Specifically the western world sending maxi pads to developing nations as "humanitarian" aid.
In 2007, Proctor and Gamble began a program called Protecting Futures. The research used in advertisements stated that in Africa, 1/10 girls miss up to 4 days a month due to insufficient materials and facilities to hygienically and privately handle their menstrual flow. P and G donated pads as well as creating sanitary facilities so those 1/10 girls wouldn't miss school.
This program is coming to the end of its five year run and its total merits can be debated at a later time. What pleased me about the article in Bitch was that it pointed out alternatives that are more environmentally sustainable and are created much closer to home- and hopefully eventually eliminating the need to donate corporate pads at all.
From a Indian man inventing a stainless steel small motor pad-making machine (only sold to NGOs and womens collectives) to a group of women students in Malaysia who invented a biodegradable pad made from tapioca, banana fiber and vinegar to a Kenyan NGO started by 8 mothers (K-MET)that assemble reusable cloth napkins and then travel throughout the country teaching others how to- the developing world is finding it's own way to provide sanitary solutions for its women. Proctor and Gamble need not apply.
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