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Taboo subject menstruation

Menstruation and menstrual practices still face many social, cultural and religious taboos. In many parts of Sri Lanka, especially in the rural mountain areas, girls are not prepared for menstruation and do not know how to manage it, so they face many difficulties and challenges at home, at school and at work.

taboo subject menstruation – reusable sanitary pads

Girls have very little or no knowledge about reusable sanitary pads, and also do not know about personal hygiene during menstruation. In rural areas, women and girls often do not have access to sanitary products, know very little about the types and methods of use, or cannot afford such products due to the high cost. In the mountains, girls and women still often use old scraps of cloth, which are buried or thrown away after use. These are then often dug up again by dogs, monkeys and wild boars.

People often avoid topics related to menstruation and how to deal with menstrual hygiene. Menstruation is a silent issue in girls’ lives that also affects the school environment. Between the ages of 10 and 13, the situation unfortunately worsens for girls due to a lack of knowledge about preparing for and dealing with menstruation or due to shyness and shame. 60% of girls stay away from school during the time of their menstruation, lose a lot of learning material and even drop out of school for this reason.

In many schools, both male and female teachers are unwilling to talk to students about menstruation and menstrual hygiene.

This project aims to prepare girls on the topic through trained counselors, to understand menstrual practices, and to learn about reusable sanitary pads and how to use them.

For all these reasons, Lankahelp trains female counselors to start an awareness campaign in schools.

The first step is to educate about the body, menstruation, hygiene during menstruation and how to use sanitary pads.

The second step is the education about the handling of the reusable sanitary pads, their cleaning and storage.

Since the climate in the mountains is sometimes extremely humid, we have developed special reusable sanitary pads together with Mayomi from the women’s initiative. These are produced by Mayomi and her women.

Taboo subject menstruation – our visit 2025

During our stay in Sri Lanka, we also visited the trainers and Mr. Cyrilraj from the “Napkin Project” – an initiative that was launched in 2022. Our lawyer Cyril provided us with detailed information about the development and successes of the project. The trainers enthusiastically reported on their work and the visible progress they have made.

The facts speak for themselves: in its first year in 2022, 9,787 women benefited from the project, and by 2024, the number had risen to 12,028 – including 8,643 girls and 3,385 women. Between March 2022 and March 2025, an impressive 38,019 participants were reached.

Having now largely covered the Badulla district, Cyril is planning to expand the project to the Monaragala district, where 15 Tamil schools have already expressed interest.

Particularly impressive was the visit by two women’s groups that organized themselves independently as part of the project. The first group has 41 members, the second 31. They have built up a network to organize lectures, education, mutual support, and practical everyday help. They all emphasized how valuable the project is for them—not only from a financial point of view, thanks to the reusability of the hygiene products, but also in terms of environmental protection.

The Napkin Project is one of Lankahelp’s most costly but also one of its most effective projects, with a lasting impact on health, self-determination for girls and women, and environmental protection.