Pacific period health: What happens when you can't access pads or clean water?
Description
Many women and girls in the Pacific don’t have access to pads, clean water or even the knowledge they need to practice proper menstrual hygiene.
Poor menstrual hygiene can lead to urinary tract infections and the stigma and shame around periods is stopping girls from attending school.
However, there are organisations trying to address the issue and improve women’s health.
On ABC Radio Australia’s Sistas Let’s Talk, host Natasha Meten speaks to Anne-Shirley Korave from Queenpads, a social enterprise in Papua New Guinea that provides women with reusable pads and runs education programs on practicing good menstrual hygiene.
And Ellice Mataki, the chief education officer for Solomon Islands Central Islands Province, oversees the rollout of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities to give female school students access to a clean, private place to change their pads.
United States
