ADDIS ABABA, Nov 15 — In a cramped workshop in the heart of Addis Ababa, seamstresses are busy turning out reusable sanitary pads — a vital resource in Ethiopia, where many girls go without because of the cost and taboos.
In Ethiopia, a religiously conservative country of 130 million people where around 40 percent live in poverty, menstruation is still often treated as a subject of shame and disposable sanitary pads are luxury items.
Hanan Ahmed, 41, set up her company, Han’s with Care, in 2021 in the hope of tackling what she calls “menstrual shame and period poverty” — something she experienced firsthand when she was younger.
“I used to be one of those girls who have a very heavy flow. I would end up staining my clothes and the desk I was sitting at. And because of that, I didn’t come to school for like a week or two, making up excuses,” Hanan told AFP.
