AmaizePads: A Sustainable Solution for Feminine Hygiene in Southern Malawi

     The lack of access to sanitary napkins and tampons in developing countries hinders women and girls to complete daily tasks during their period. According to Tellier and Hyttel (2018), providing menstrual products lowered dropout rates of schoolgirls in Uganda by 17.1% (as cited in Montgomery, et al., 2016). This proposal presents a sustainable solution to this problem in Mulanje, Malawi that emulates the commercial pad design using corn husks, corn flour, and fabric. With 90% of Malawian households having access to corn flour and corn husk, the undemanding mechanism allows for the utilization of waste materials that are accessible to all (I. Puliwa, personal communication, December 24, 2019). The disposability of this model targets women in the rural areas of Malawi, where running water is not widely available (I. Puliwa , personal communication, December 24, 2019).