Giving Compass' Take:

• Causeartist highlights Arunachalam Murugantham, an entrepreneur from India who is giving millions of Indian women access to menstrual hygiene and sustainable employment. 

• Would free supplies and better menstrual hygiene education in schools help end this issue? What are some other challenges with menstrual equity?

• Read and learn more about period poverty and what is being done to end it. 

Arunachalam Muruganantham, dubbed as India’s Menstrual or Pad Man, created an eco-friendly pad machine, giving millions of women in his home country and around the world access to both menstrual hygiene and sustainable employment.

Poor sanitation practices
After seeing his wife use dirty rags during her period because she couldn’t afford to buy sanitary napkins, the school dropout from India recognized the devastating impact of period poverty on the health and well-being of women and girls worldwide.

3 billion people globally have no basic hand-washing facility with water and soap at home, which means that girls and women in these households are not able to manage their period under optimal hygiene levels.

Only 17% of girls in Burkina Faso have a place in their schools to change their sanitary materials, and UNESCO estimates that 1 in 10 African adolescent girls miss school during their menses, and eventually drop out. In Bangladesh, garment workers miss work for an average of 6 unpaid days per month due to vaginal infections.

Read the full article on helping period poverty in India by Trang Chu Minh at Causeartist.