Chambal: A woman in Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh is on a mission to distribute sanitary pads among rural women folk in the state in a bid to spread awareness over menstrual health. Chambal's 'pad woman' Rekha Shukla has started the initiative through her Self Help Group and by setting up a small factory for manufacturing the sanitary pads.
The sanitary napkins are provided to women at a lower price than big brands. Discussion over menstrual health is still considered a taboo in the rural areas. But Bhind's pad woman Rekha Shukla, hailing from Bhind district of Chambal is working day and night to overcome this problem and to take care of hygiene during menstruation in women.
In many rural areas, women still use clothes during periods. To overcome this problem, Rekha Shukla started a sanitary pad manufacturing factory where she makes the pads of her own brand named Sangini, which is cheaper than expensive branded products available in market but the quality is as good as big brands.
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In a special conversation with ETV Bharat, Rekha said that she started manufacturing sanitary pads because even today sanitary napkins are not available in the rural areas of Bhind district. Rekha said packets of pads made at the factory are made available to the women belonging to the self-help groups of the village through sales centers.
She believes that the initiative serves a two-pronged purpose. While it ensures menstrual hygiene, the factory manufacturing the pads provides livelihood to scores of women. Rekha said that before setting up the factory, she first researched on the subject to ensure quality. Pad making process is completed in 4 stages. In the first stage, a thin layer of disposable fabric is the first layer in the pad.
Then in the second layer 'bootpulp', which works to absorb the blood coming out during periods is used. It turns into a gel when used wet. The bootpulp is followed by another layer of disposable fabric and finally a thin paper like cloth sheet is applied which prevents leakage. In the second stage, the pad is pressed by placing it in the compressor machine to make it flat and thin for compactness.
In the third stage, the prepared sanitary pads are placed in a UV machine for disinfection. In the last stage, the pads are put in a packet bearing the name of the brand Sanjivani and sealed through a heat machine, after which the packet is ready for sale. In a bid to expand the initiative, Rekha has started village to village 'Sangini Pink Corner', a sales center in every village for the sale of sanitary pads with women members associated with self help groups.
Presently, the pads are sold in Bhind district and if everything goes well in future, Rekha is planning to expand the distribution to other districts. Rekha along with her team hope that the initiative will continue to motivate rural women to prefer pads over traditional clothes and provide employment to women folk in the process.
