Svasthya
The sanitary pad is by far the most widely used method of menstrual management. It is easy to use and pretty straightforward. The pads we use today are made up of mostly synthetic, bleached material, * *but what were they like fifty years ago? And when were they invented?* *
Menstrual pads have been mentioned in history as early as the 10th century in Ancient Greece, where a woman is said to have thrown one of her used menstrual rags at an admirer in an attempt to get rid of him.
Before the disposable pad was invented, most women used rags, cotton, or sheep’s wool in their underwear to stem the flow of menstrual blood.
The very first disposable pads were thought up by nurses, looking for new methods to stop excessive bleeding, particularly on the battlefield. The first pads were made from wood pulp bandages by nurses in France. It was very absorbent, and cheap enough to throw away afterwards. The problem was, women did not feel comfortable asking for this product, so in the early 1920s, the name was changed to Nupak, a name that did not describe the product.
Although the sanitary pads were available by this time, women were quite hesitatant in asking for it. It took several years for disposable menstrual pads to become commonplace.The earliest disposable pads were generally in the form of a cotton wool or similar fibrous rectangle covered with an absorbent liner.
One of the greatest disadvantage of the traditional forms of stuff women used as pads are that they are highly unhygienic. No one even knows how many years old is the material lying just at one place and as the latest ones aren't accessible to them, they use it without being aware of its side effects. Apart from this, the other biggest set back of the ordinary traditional pads was that the women used to fall prey to infections now and then. As the clothes were not washed properly, the infection rates used to shoot up.
Even now, in the village areas, women use the traditional methods, which turns out to be very harmful for their healths.
Sanitary pads are the most widely used form of menstrual management, but they are still overpriced, particularly in developing countries. To overcome this problem, Girl Up Heron took an initiative to reduce this problem to some extent. "Svasthya", the fundraising event initiated by the team of Girl Up Heron started collecting funds for the welfare of the women far and wide.
With the support of the entire team, Girl Up was able to collect twice the target set just within a handful of days. Manual donation of pads will be done by the volunteers of Girl Up in the rural areas where either the pads are not available or the women are hesitant to ask for it. They will also be educated on the need of female hygiene. This campaign was started for raising the funds as well as for recognizing mensuration as a normal process and not a taboo for the society.
Written by -
Amandeep Kaur Chawla Bhavyagera
