Miss World Manushi Chhillar starts menstrual hygiene campaign

Miss World 2017 Manushi Chhillar has started her 'Beauty With A Purpose' tour with the 'Feminine Hygiene Awareness' campaign in Hyderabad on Thursday. The aim is to educate women about the importance of menstrual hygiene management.

Manushi's project Shakti

Manushi's project 'Shakti' aims at educating men and women in rural areas about menstrual hygiene. She expressed her surprise at the lack of awareness about sanitary pads.

"Apart from creating awareness, through this initiative, we plan to set up manufacturing units for sanitary pads. The idea is to bring people together and make sanitary pads accessible to all women." - Manushi Chillar

Lack of awareness about menstrual hygiene

"Many of them didn't even know about sanitary napkins; those who did, couldn't afford them. I was amazed to see the kind of things women had used as substitutes for sanitary pads. Some of them used ash, others used cardboard or cloth. Around 70 per cent of the women felt that menstruation was dirty," Manushi told TOI.

Also: Cloth Pads and Period Panties – Smart Women’s Menstrual Hygiene Choice

She also added, "Apart from creating awareness, through this initiative, we plan to set up manufacturing units for sanitary pads. The idea is to bring people together and make sanitary pads accessible to all women."

Aakar, an NGO has backed Manushi's cause. It also aims to create a sustainable community-led model to promote menstrual hygiene awareness and provide low cost, compostable sanitary pads in rural and urban India.

Besides the NGO, the Telangana government is also one of the buttress of her initiative.

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