Gender

Women in Colombian post-conflict zones are exposed to unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and gender-based violence due to territorial isolation and little access to information about their rights and safe and timely care routes. Although abortion in Colombia is decriminalized on 3 instances, in rural areas, unlike in urban, safe abortion services confronts health personnel, community leaders and decision makers with their own values around abortion and sexual and reproductive rights.

The innovation shall seek to address high school dropout rates among girls, high rates of absenteeism among girls, and the attitudes, myths, misconceptions and stigma around Menstrual Hygiene Management. By targeting 20 schools in rural Malawi in Ntchisi and Dowa districts, the project shall help in keeping 1500 girls in school safely and practicing appropriate menstrual hygiene practices and openly discussing issues to do with menstruation with their communities.

Sanitary pads in Malawi are expensive. They are more expensive than the price of bread. Therefore, if you are growing up in a poor household, sanitary pads are a luxury your parents cannot afford and you may be forced to use rags, socks, or even a newspaper to stop menstrual flow from staining your clothes. Since most Malawians are poor and live below the poverty line, it means that the majority of young adolescent girls do not have access to sanitary pads and they sometimes miss school.

In Rwanda, 74% of new HIV infections are in young girls (15-19 years) and early pregnancy rates are rising (1). The age of sexual debut is dropping, and adolescents report high levels of coercion in their sexual relationships (1,5,7). A lack of access to SRHR information and non-judgemental advice on sexual and reproductive health and relationships is cited as a primary factor driving these trends, which threaten to reverse the gains made in reducing health, poverty and inequality in the nation.

23 million women drop out of school in India when they start menstruating (1) and others miss an average of 50 days of school each year due to menstruation (2). A study (3) has shown that 70 % of the adolescent girls and women suffer from dysmenorrhea (cramping pain in the lower abdomen) and endures the pain or use pain killers that can have long term effect. Existing solutions do not address dysmenorrhea explicitly which is a critical aspect for girls entering puberty.

Many young women in Kenya lack access to the information and products they need to manage menstruation in a way that is healthy and safe. Poor menstrual health management (MHM) can lead to missed school and work, health complications, and shame surrounding the issue. In addition, young women lack information about Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), job skills, and economic opportunities to generate income and purchase items essential for their health and that of their families.

Lack of awareness of and access to information on SRHR and attitudes of service providers present obstacles to exercising rights even where services and support do exist. Child marriage, rape, unwanted pregnancy, inability to access safe abortion are realities of many girls. The socialisation of children to see gender inequality as normal, the exposure of children to GBV, exploitative sexual relationships and the failure of society to provide SRHR education combine to entrench this reality.

In DRC, GBV and its harmful health consequences are linked to the battle for control of mineral wealth. Sexual violence has become a wartactic used to control mines and smuggling routes. Women working in mines are brutally exploited. Survivors of wartime rape and exploitation face life-threatening injuries, diseases, and trauma. For many, social stigma & financial insecurity bars them from accessing much needed SRH services, driving a cycle of dependence and exploitation that is hard to escape.

The violence is established in the first affective relationships between couples of adolescents, it tends to be progressive, from sexist jokes, ridicule, prohibitions, beatings, pinches and blackmail, as a tragic consequence we have femicides; in 2017 there were 109 cases in the country, Cochabamba is the Department with the highest number of this Crime. Another consequence is the ignorance of Reproductive Sexual Health, a topic that should be addressed from education.

Be Girl's innovation is a line of high-performance, reusable menstrual products. Be Girl's product line includes the PeriodPantyTM(patented two-in-one underwear and reliable period protection), FlexiPad™ (reusable, leak-proof sanitary pad) and the SmartCycle® tool (wearable menstrual tracker that puts knowledge about the menstrual cycle in the hands of the user). Be Girl also conducts interactive, educational MHM workshops with adolescents in school.