Period poverty in the time of a pandemic

For the past five months, sanitary napkins have not reached many remote villages, forcing girls to go back to using unhygienic methods.

On the day the government announced the nationwide lockdown in March, Sneha was on the first day of her period. Fearing she would have no access to sanitary napkins during the lockdown, she rushed to a nearby shop to buy a pack of sanitary pads. While in the shop, she noticed that the shelves for menstrual products were almost empty.