Can reusable products solve period poverty?
500 million women don’t have access to menstrual products.
The average person who menstruates has their period for 2,535 days (nearly seven years) of their life, according to the UN. That’s A LOT of tampons and pads. But the World Bank says 500 million women don’t have access to menstrual products. Period poverty - when women and girls can’t afford or access sanitary products - is a global problem, affecting lots of countries in Africa as well as the US, UK, India and New Zealand.
Gloria Achieng, a ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ journalist in Kenya, talks us through the causes of period poverty and some of the reusable products available. Patricia Kajumba, founder of Glow Up Pads in Uganda, explains how her reusable pads are making a difference and Geena Dunne from the Cova Project in Australia tells us about their menstrual cups. ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Health reporter Michelle Roberts breaks down some of the myths surrounding period products.
Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld
Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk
WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6
Presenter: Hannah Gelbart
Producers: Julia Ross-Roy, Mora Morrison and Hayley Clarke
Video Journalists: Gabriel Purcell-Davis and Adam Chowdhury
Editor: Verity Wilde
Last on
Broadcasts
- Thu 3 Apr 2025 17:50GMTÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service News Internet
- Fri 4 Apr 2025 02:50GMTÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service East and Southern Africa, South Asia, West and Central Africa & East Asia only
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