Menstrual Health and Hygiene

The Menstrual Health and Hygiene (MHH) project focuses on the development of a biodegradable and compostable menstrual pad for underserved communities. The project is a collaboration with the OSU Global Health program which has an ongoing relationship with the village of Muanatlala, Botswana (approximately 5000 people) that is the initial target community. The MHH Team been testing many types of materials and designs to find the best construction of an effective and compostable menstrual pad. An additional consideration is that there is an approximately 30% HIV rate amongst the village girls and women. Menstrual pads in industry are judged on their strikethrough, absorbency, wetback and adhesion. Using these standards with the addition of the need to be compostable in local environments such as Botswana, materials have been sourced that meet the criteria. Ongoing research involves testing of both the materials and construction design of prototype menstrual pads. Once the final prototype design is selected, the next phase is manufacturing in-house 1500 menstrual pads for delivery to Botswana in summer 2022.