NEW DELHI: Whisper, a leading feminine hygiene brand, pledged to reach out and extend the impact of its flagship ‘Mother Daughter Menstrual Health & Hygiene Program’ to 5 Crore girls by the end of 2022.
As part of its commitment to increase menstrual hygiene in the country, Whisper will reach out to more than 40,000 schools across India. The pledge was made by Whisper at the ‘Need to Break Silence and Build Awareness’ event organized by ASSOCHAM to mark the occasion of ‘World Menstrual Hygiene Day’.
Till last year, Whisper’s Mother Daughter Menstrual Health & Hygiene Program has already educated more than 2.5 crore girls about menstrual hygiene, since its inception in 1995.
Vandana Gurnani, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India was the Chief Guest at the event, which was also attended by Padma Shri awardee and renowned classical dancer and activist, Geeta Chandran and Foroogh Foyouzat from UNICEF India among other senior representatives from the government, industry and social organizations working towards menstrual hygiene education.
Suman and Sneha, whose true story about a quiet revolution against the stigma of menstruation was featured in the Oscar winning documentary, ‘Period: End of Sentence’, were also present at the event as special guests.
Chetna Soni, Associate Director & Country Leader, Feminine Care, P&G said “ Our pledge to extend the reach of our Menstrual Health & Hygiene Program to educate over 5 crore adolescent girls about menstrual hygiene by 2022 is in line with this vision. We invite relevant stakeholders across the board – government, social institutions and corporates – to come together and partner with us on this initiative.”
The biggest opportunity for the menstrual hygiene category lies in providing access and awareness of healthy menstrual hygiene practices among women across the country. Till date, even in Urban India, less than 50% of women use healthy menstrual hygiene protection like pads and for the rural woman and girl, this is even lower. As an industry, our focus should be to increase awareness and adoption of good quality and safe menstrual hygiene.
