SantéVie Pads encourage “menstrual freedom” and at the same time offer products that are better for women’s bodies and the environment.
Many girls in Senegal stay home for a week once a month because of their periods.They do not have appropriate towels capable of ensuring their freedom of movement, and preventing them from staining their clothes.
This problem also concerns many village women.They are not always able to buy disposable sanitary napkins.So they use pieces of fabric that are not very absorbent or waterproof.This limits their freedom of movement.
Our HealthLife Pads project aims to change this situation: Empower women and girls and give them freedom of movement during their menstruation. Serviettes SantéVie will manufacture and distribute reusable sanitary napkins to women and girls in Senegal.
IT’S A WIN-WIN FOR EVERYONE – EVEN THE ENVIRONMENT.
SantéVie Towels is a project that will be self-financing after its start using Senegalese fabric.After the project is funded, Senegalese women will be trained to sew the towels, run the business themselves and sell the towels locally.
In general, disposable sanitary napkins are not biodegradable and there are no waste collection facilities in many places in Senegal.So after use, disposable napkins pose a public health and environmental problem. On average, a woman throws away 180 pads per year.If we multiply 180 times 30 years then times 3.5 million women, that’s a lot of waste. So a washable and reusable product is part of an ecological movement since it does not produce waste.
AN INNOVATION FOR A SOCIAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM
SantéVie Serviettes will work in collaboration with an existing women’s cooperative to manufacture sanitary napkins which will be sold to girls and women who do not have these types of products in the village.The towels will be sewn using an already known method using a cotton-based product.It will be a product of African women for African women.Women will learn how to trade, earn an income and provide a vital and healthy product to their peers.
WHAT ROLE WILL YOUR DONATIONS PLAY?
Your donations will help find a solution to sustainable development and a public health problem. The SantéVie Towels product corresponds to many aspects of socio-economic development.
* Job creation in Senegal
* Support the local economy – all raw materials will be purchased in Senegal
* Offer an affordable and healthy option to replace the inappropriate fabrics used by many girls.
* Protect the environment by reducing the production of contaminated towels after use.
*Enable the establishment of a sustainable economy for the Foundation in Senegal.The Sénégal Santé Mobile foundation is a non-profit organization which provides care and medical equipment to women and children in Senegal.
THE PLAN
Talking about menstruation is a taboo subject in Africa. For our project to be accepted, we will only deal with women and notables in the rural world to present our product. We will also target village cooperatives and non-governmental organizations for the manufacturing and distribution of towels.
The village of Gorom will serve as the starting point for our project because the villagers already know us for our support in the field of health.Our partner is a non-governmental organization ANAFA (www.anafa.org) based in Dakar for the manufacture of the product.This partner is very well known in Dakar and has several branches throughout Senegal.
One of our first partners, the non-governmental organization Tostan promotes women’s rights and has cooperatives across Senegal.
The impact on the lives of towel users and seamstresses is enormous = income, power & freedom of movement.
So… Donate. So you change – FOREVER – the life of a girl or woman