With most establishments downingtheir shutters in light of the COVID-19 lockdown in Madhya Pradesh, many have lost access to essentials, including hygiene products.However, a non-profit organisation run by students has come to the rescue of underprivileged women in the slums of Bhopal, by providing them sanitary napkins in these unprecedented times.A city-based organisation called Manasa distributed at least 3,000 sanitary napkins in slum colonies across the city to help women who could not buy these monthly hygiene products during the lockdown."Our group, which primarily consists of students, raised money for poor women. We pooled in Rs 16,000 to buy sanitary napkins," founder of the organisation Janvi Tiwari said.The 21-year-old got in touch with different agencies and NGOs that were involved in distributing essentials in ghettoes and got them to give away sanitary pads as well."I realised that women living in slums would find it difficult to purchase sanitary products during the lockdown. I didn't want them to use unhygienic cloth strips that can cause infections," said Tiwari, who is pursuing a degree in psychology.With the lockdown in place, the supply of sanitary pads to the city has dwindled and they were trying to access more sanitary napkins for distribution, said Tiwari, who has been working on the issue of menstrual health for the last two years.
