216,160 pads donated in Ja through End Period Poverty Menstru-Mobile initiative
Published:Saturday | July 8, 2023 | 12:16 AM
Fourteen schools across Jamaica benefited through the alliance between HerFlow Foundation and Always.
The Menstru-Mobile initiative, which includes a sensitisation and donation component, also saw the donation of more than 400,000 menstrual pads being donated to low-income girls, teenagers and women in the participating countries.
In Jamaica, at least 216,160 pads were donated; in Panama, 21,000 and in Trinidad and Tobago, 174,400.
The donation was part of Always’ 2023 End Period Poverty campaign,which also saw the company conduct a survey on period poverty in Central American and Caribbean countries.
Monique Allen commended the efforts made by the Always brand, adding that some of the things that women and girls were using while menstruating because they could not afford period products were very unhealthy and unsanitary.
The certified holistic nutritionist and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and fertility coach said that she wished to see the establishment of public-private partnerships aimed at helping to tackle the issue of period poverty. This, she says, will expand their reach and assist existing organisations which have been making donations of period products to women and girls without access to free products.
According to a study by non-governmental organisation HerFlow, 42 per cent of girls in Jamaica suffer from period poverty and have to go without sanitary supplies for months at a time.
Speaking recently on the Television Jamaica (TVJ) programme, Daytime LIVE!, the founder of HerFlow Foundation, Shelly-Ann Weeks, shared that given that girls from as young as eight years old are menstruating, “we really do have to put something in place to ensure that menstrual products are available to them”.
She revealed that since the foundation’s inception, six million products have been supplied across over 300 schools in Jamaica and in female prisons, government homes, community organisations and to individuals.
“Too many Jamaicans still have to face the indignity of period poverty,” Weeks said.
In 2022, she was able to supply 15 clinics with free menstrual products for distribution.
“I want Governments around the world – some of them have already started the conversation – to prioritise this issue because it’s not just a function of ‘oh well you need to have these products’, it’s a function of dignity. You know that when a woman is down, her children are down. You know that when a woman is down, the community feels down. So, we have to ensure that we give the Jamaicans the products that they need so that they can live dignified lives, they can continue to get their education and make Jamaica a better place,” she said.
Due to the success of this year’s campaign, within the coming months, other countries such as Costa Rica, Guatemala and El Salvador will benefit from the Menstru-Mobile.
“At Always we want to promote the conversation about period poverty and, together with our allies, raise awareness and fight against the difficulties that prevent these girls from having dignified periods,” said Paula Villaseñor, corporate communications director for the Procter and Gamble Company (P&G) for Central America and the Caribbean. “Together, we can take action to put an end to this problem that affects everything from the schooling of our girls and young people to the development of their self-esteem.”