When I first began researching the question of sanitary protection for women during their menstrual periods, it was some decades ago. The particular story that had grabbed my attention was about how women in a refugee camp did not have any sanitary protection because no one had thought about that need.

So I began researching, and discovered a wide variety of solutions that were being developed or promoted. There was a professor in Uganda who had developed Makapads using papyrus derived from bulrushes, after learning that many young women were resorting to rags and leaves and newspapers during that time of the month. He was horrified. The product he developed was biodegradable, and it has changed many lives.