Sanitary Napkins business for rural women

UNICEF and Women on Wings are working together to scale up business opportunities in sanitary napkins production in India to support the government policy of promoting MHM for adolescent girls in rural areas in particular. Practices in Tamil Nadu, Bihar, West-Bengal and Maharashtra show that the production and marketing of sanitary napkins give a fair income and employment to women and enables women and girls from poor families to access this crucial feminine hygiene product at reasonable prices. Women on Wings will support local entrepreneurs and small production units that nurture a social objective, with their consultancy in management and marketing to scale up.

UNICEF started 5 years ago spreading information about Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) to girls and their mothers and focussed on facilities (girl's toilets with disposal facilities) in rural government schools to enable girls to attend school without any feeling of discomfort or shame.
In India, poor menstrual hygiene with no reliable access to sanitary napkins has been the cause of reproductive tract infections leading to challenging pregnancy outcomes, compromising both maternal and child health. In different states there are initiatives to produce sanitary napkins. With these first pilots UNICEF and Women on Wings will develop a business model to promote the sanitary napkins business in more areas.