Fighting Period Poverty One Conversation At A Time with Victoria Abrahams

We very quickly synonymise stigmatised issues, particularly those concerning the female body, to developing countries' problems. This only belittles the painful experiences of women living in western countries that aren't able to get access to basic needs like period products. 

Period poverty is a massive issue in the UK, where 40% of women use materials like toilet paper as makeshift pads and 1 in 4 teenage girls don't know what to do on their first periods. Freedom4Girls helps to tackle the issue of period poverty through making reusable sanitary products available to vulnerable menstruating females free of cost, aswell as removing period stigma through education of the menstrual cycle in the UK, Kenya and Uganda.

When talking to Victoria Abrahams, the operations manager and lead for the Uganda project, it is evident that women still view periods in a negative light, often punishing themselves for undergoing a completely normal and non-preventable process. Until we don't normalise periods, desexualise the female body and encourage women to openly discuss their sexual health, issues like period poverty will continue to persist.