The announcement came after a six-month pilot program involving 3,200 students across 15 schools in the country’s Waikato region. In November, Scotland became the first country to announce that it would make period products freely available to all who need them. Though New Zealand is among the world’s wealthiest nations, a study published last year by the charity KidsCan found that up to 20,000 New Zealand students were at risk of not being able to afford tampons or other products. Fifteen percent of Maori students and 14% of Pacific students have missed school because they did not have menstrual items, the study showed. A campaign for free period products gained steam in late 2019, when Hitchings, her co-founder, Jacinta Gulasekharam, and other campaigners submitted a petition with 3,000 signatures to the country’s Parliament calling for free period products for all students.

Source: bd News24 February 18, 2021 08:26 UTC