Sanitary Pad Project

Due to a lack of women’s health education there is often a lot of shame and embarrassment surrounding menstrual cycles. This, combined with poor access to washing facilities and hygiene products means that girls and young women are missing school around 3 days a month translating to a loss of 24 school days a year (11% of the year).

Currently many girls are using  plastic bags, dead leaves, rags, or even sand as sanitary products,  these are ineffective and can cause serious infections.

A report by the Education and sports Ministry on  menstrual health management in the Uganda shows that around 23% of Ugandan girls in the age group of 12-18 drop out of school when they begin menstruation.

At Femlead we decided we needed a practical solution to this issue, girls in the community are already facing so many obstacles when it comes to completing their education, so in 2017 Femlead commissioned a feasibility study to examine solutions to attempt to alleviate this one.

We found that what is required is a locally made product, using both local materials and local labour. Due to a lack of water in the area the manufacturing process should not be dependent on much water, nor, for the same reason, should the product be re-usable.

Research shows that banana stems, when pulped and fluffed, make a material even more absorbent and safer than what can be made from wood pulp and waste paper, the process also uses less water.

Femlead is in the process of creating a self-sustaining cottage industry which includes setting up a small production unit as well as organising women’s groups to plant more bananas. This venture will not only manufacture sanitary pads for the local girls but also help to alleviate a critical food shortage, provide work for local women and supply Femlead with the banana stems required to make pulp fluff filling for sanitary pads.