SHRUTI BAMB

Special Mention Award MIT-WPU National Design 2022 Sep 2022 According to the National Family Health Survey (2015-16), there are around 355 million menstruating women and girls in India. However, women across the country experience significant barriers to a comfortable and dignified experience with menstrual hygiene management.They face issues in first accessing, and then discarding the used pads in public washrooms. And for the cleaning staff who handle them later, it is a nightmare. Once discarded, one sanitary pad takes up to 500 – 800 years… Show more According to the National Family Health Survey (2015-16), there are around 355 million menstruating women and girls in India. However, women across the country experience significant barriers to a comfortable and dignified experience with menstrual hygiene management.They face issues in first accessing, and then discarding the used pads in public washrooms. And for the cleaning staff who handle them later, it is a nightmare. Once discarded, one sanitary pad takes up to 500 – 800 years to decompose. Given that an average woman uses 12 sanitary napkins every cycle – which accounts for approximately 15,000 pads or more during her life – the number of pads landing in the landfill worldwide is unfathomable. To address this complex problem, three UPES School of Design students – Bhasha Maheswari, Siddhi Deshpande and Shruti Bamb – developed Vendo, a public sanitary solution for women. Show less