Menstrual
Awareness
Systemic analysis & interventions around menstrual taboos and sanitary waste
This was the largest student we completed at the National Institute of Design in 2013.
A group of four young women in my batch, Krishnaveni, Shipra, Yuhina and I, felt strongly about the infrastructure for menstrual hygiene on our campus. As we got deeper into the issue, we dealt with social and environmental taboos around menstruation in India too. It was very interesting to analyse the system and choose specific tangible interventions to design.
We came up with four ideas to address this systemic issue.
1. A video for young children, aged 7-9 to combat the taboos around menstruation
2. Eco-friendly and comfortable cloth napkin designs as an alternative to disposable sanitary napkins
3. A monthly kit for girls starting their period with pads, medicines, nutritious food and information
4. A proposal to the local waste collection authorities to include sanitary waste incinerators and better hygiene conditions for waste collectors collecting sanitary waste.
