P&G to double coverage of menstrual hygiene prog by 2022

FMCG firm Procter & Gamble (P&G) on Friday announced to double the coverage of its educational Mother-Daughter Menstrual Health & Hygiene' programme to five crore girls by 2022.

P&G South Asia MD & CEO Madhusudan Gopalan announced this commitment on behalf of the company during the India Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the company said in a statement.

The company, which owns sanitary napkin brand the Whisper, has also invited government, corporates, and NGOs to collaborate on the issue.

"Over the past three decades, we have educated more than 2.5 crore girls in India on menstrual hygiene through our 'Mother-Daughter Menstrual Health & Hygiene Programme'. We pledge to double this impact in the next four years and educate over 5 crore adolescent girls on menstrual hygiene by 2022," Gopalan said.

This is in line with P&G efforts to increase awareness and acceptance of healthy menstruation practices and the company's vision to achieve 100 per cent menstrual hygiene in India, he added.

"When we started our journey in India three decades ago, the number of women using sanitary protection was less than one crore. Our efforts to create awareness and education have been critical to increase this number to more than 7 crore women today," Gopalan said.

According to Gopalan, less than 20 per cent women in India follow menstrual hygiene practices and even in the developed urban areas, the adoption is only around 50 per cent.

"Awareness, acceptance and access are the biggest barriers to achieving 100 per cent menstrual hygiene. The government, corporates, NGOs, media and entertainment sector each have unique strengths, and we must collaborate towards this common goal to achieve 100 per cent menstrual hygiene in the country," he said.