With an aim to provide better menstrual hygiene to women and reach the womenfolk of interior villages at the lowest price, Tirap district in Arunachal Pradesh launched its first sanitary napkin production unit in the state.
Inaugurating the project with the brand name "We Care' yesterday, Deputy Commissioner Ravi said the concept of hygiene was found to be lacking in the villages of the district, an official release said here today.
"The situation is more grim in the remote villages. In particular the hygiene practices employed by rural women during the menstrual cycle were found to be very poor," the DC said.
According to a survey conducted by the district administration in collaboration with North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project (NERCORMP), it was found that village women do not use any kind of sanitary pads during their menstrual cycle.
"As majority of the women expressed willingness to use pads if a low cost alternative is made available to them, the low cost sanitary pad project was undertaken in the district, the DC said.
The project is based on the low cost sanitary pad machine invented by Arunachalam Muruganantham of Coimbatore who is one of the vanguards of sanitary pads movement in India.
The operation of the project would be done by women SHG under the aegis of NERCORMP, Tirap whereby, low cost pads would be manufactured by the women and sold to the rural women.
The cost of an eight pad packet would come to around to Rs 23 only.
The project would have benefits of good health, improved hygiene and employment creation and will give an impetus to SHG movement in the district.
The production unit of 'We Care' is run by women group Women Development SHG promoted by NERCORMP Tirap and Longding.
