KAMPALA, Uganda — Do-it-yourself or DIY reusable menstrual pads are not new. The practice of women stitching together their own menstrual hygiene products dates back to the 70s when activists would create these products, Christina Bobel, a professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at the college of liberal arts at the University of Massachusetts Boston, said.
“Punk feminists, for example, were promoting DIY everything, including gyno care, in the 90s and 00s,” she added in an email.
Three decades later many in the menstrual health space — including Uganda-based social business AFRIpads, which was founded in 2010 and is now the leading social enterprise manufacturing reusable pads — say they are now seeing a trend in donors increasingly wanting to fund DIY pad projects. But it’s not necessarily helping things.
About the author
Amy Fallon@amyfallon
Amy Fallon is an Australian freelance journalist currently based in Uganda. She has also reported from Australia, the U.K. and Asia, writing for a wide range of outlets on a variety of issues including breaking news, and international development, and human rights topics. Amy has also worked for News Deeply, NPR, The Guardian, AFP news agency, IPS, Citiscope, and others.
