What is period poverty?
Over 500 million women and girls globally are not equipped for their monthly period. They are without access to feminine hygiene materials; sometimes not even underwear, a toilet or a sink to achieve basic sanitation. This creates profound insecurity and perpetuates a cycle of lost opportunity.
Did you know?
- This improvised 'pad' made of palm fronds is what some women have had to rely on for their menstrual needs.
- Innocent adolescent girls in Kenya engage in transactional sex to pay for menstrual products, some becoming pregnant as early as nine and ten years old.
- In parts of East Africa, 65% of impoverished women and girls are unable to afford period products.
- Girls miss out on their schooling, unable to afford the supplies that allow them to attend school uninterrupted. Millions of girls drop out of school, hopelessly anticipating the same future for their daughters.
- With un-lit communal toilets over 500 feet away, and no resources to mitigate menstrual needs, women and girls living in refugee camps are unable to manage their monthly sanitary needs.
- Schoolgirls in parts of the Middle East have no privacy at school for their personal menstrual hygienic care.
It's time to break this cycle. Here's how.
- EDUCATE NATIONS
For Her Dignity has developed menstrual health educational graphics and informative picture booklets with minimal words in six translations, to distribute to women and girls in volatile and impoverished locations. These teaching materials include resources for the girls to make their own reusable menstrual hygiene products. In areas where distribution allows, For Her Dignity provides Dignity Kits to manage the monthly menstrual health needs of women and girls. - EMPOWER COMMUNITIES For Her Dignity works with the local communities, training and equipping resident leaders to improve social and sustainable menstrual health management solutions in their respective cultures.
- ELEVATE EQUITY Every woman and girl has intrinsic value. For Her Dignity strives to break the cycles of lost opportunities for each of these by; listening to her needs, respecting her culture, providing tangible educational resources that empower her for her own menstrual health management, while providing solutions for future generations. As a result, her self-esteem, confidence, and value are realized.