Our Work

In collaboration with the NGO 4Her, volunteers visited 8 low-income community areas in Gurgaon and Delhi NCR, where they spoke to the women living in slum facilities to try and understand the challenges they face in practicing safe menstrual hygiene. Their findings revealed that most women used leaves, cloth and rags instead of sanitary pads, meaning that they were at risk of regular infections. The volunteers discovered that one of the main reasons for avoiding sanitary pads was a lack of adequate disposal facilities, which meant that the cows in the neighbourhood were often found eating the discarded pads. This provoked disapproval from the women’s husbands, resulting in their avoidance of pads and reliance on more unhygienic methods. The findings also revealed that stigma regarding menstruation persisted in the neighbourhood and was threatening the health of the women there; they therefore set out on their mission to normalize the concept of periods and highlight the importance of safe and healthy menstruation practices.

Based on this understanding, a fundraiser was then created, which raised ₹10,000 to purchase 3,500 low cost sanitary napkins. These were distributed to the women in the neighbourhoods while raising awareness about the importance of menstrual health, safe period products and hygienic disposal. The volunteers followed up on this with consistent phone calls and visits to the neighbourhood over a 6 month time period, to encourage the women to use the pads regularly instead of the cloths or leaves. The One4Her initiative then also donated 500 packets of sanitary pads to the Red Cross for them to distribute to women in need.