Menstruation is a highly stigmatized, critical social and public health issue in rural India. Particularly in rural India, women and girls suffer from entrenched period poverty i.e. lack of access to hygienic period products, accurate menstrual health education, and related facilities such as functional toilets, clean water, and soaps. As a result, it is common for rural areas to have staggering rates of school absenteeism due to period poverty, and for women and girls to contract dangerous infections from using makeshift materials like rags, or even sand, to manage their period.

These realities are further compounded by the stigma and culture of shame that surrounds, leading to the rise of myths and menstrual practices that greatly harm women and girls’ mental and physical well-being.