#OneDayForMenstrualHygiene: FairGaze And India Is Us Conduct Sanitary Pad Distribution Drive

FairGaze, in partnership with India Is Us, recently held a free sanitary pad distribution drive for the women and young girls in Khora Colony, Noida. The distribution campaign is an off-shoot of the #OneDayForMenstrualHygiene campaign, which aims to distribute 50,000 sanitary napkins across the slums in Delhi NCR.

The purpose of the drive is to spread awareness about female menstrual health and bring the generally shunned topic of female hygiene products to light. In an attempt to dispel the associated taboo when it comes to menstrual health, FairGaze and India Is Us united to set up the event where women could come together and promote the basic necessity for female health.

The National Family Health Survey 2015-16 revealed that a dismal 36% of women used sanitary pads. This means that out of 336 million women, only 121 million use sanitary napkins during menstruation. A major contributor to this somber statistic is the unavailability of such products in many regions of India especially in under-developed and rural areas.

Furthermore, over 300 million women still rely on old clothes and rags. Such alarming statistics demand an urgent call-to-action for spreading awareness on menstrual health and hygiene practices and ensuring an easier access to sanitary napkins.

This is not FairGaze and India Is Us’ first rodeo. Back in May 28, on the occasion of World Menstrual Hygiene Day, the two had joined hands to start the #OneDayForMenstrualHygiene campaign. The campaign was an astounding success, reaching out to 5 lakh people and receiving over 25,000 engagements on social media alone. In addition to the distribution of 50,000 sanitary pads across the Delhi NCR slums, the campaign also aims to engage 5000+ students of both genders across 16 states.

Japanese feminine hygiene products manufacturer, Unicharm, has extended its support to the FairGaze Menstrual Hygiene Day campaign and even donated 50,000 pads for distribution during the recent pandemic.

Vivek Atray, Advisor at FairGaze, expressed his belief that the campaign was the start of a much-needed change. “We need to make consistent efforts on spreading awareness on menstrual hygiene and not just react to emergency and crisis.”