Speakers, including government officials, on Thursday stressed the need to launch sanitary products that could address the specific needs of women with disabilities.
At the inaugural programme of the 鈥楽afe and Accessible Sanitary Product Innovation Competition for Women with Disabilities鈥�, held at the auditorium of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation in the capital, speakers also stressed the need to consider diverse needs of women based on different types of disabilities while designing the products.
A visually impaired girl named Bushra said that since she needed assistance during her menstrual period, it would be helpful if sanitary pads were larger in size and could be used for a longer duration than usual.
Addressing the event as chief guest, Ashrafi Ahmed, director general of the Directorate General of Family Planning, emphasised that the collaboration of various companies was essential for introducing such products to the market.
In a keynote speech, B-SCAN assistant coordinator Shawni Imam said that, according to Disability Information Services, there were more than 35 lakh persons with disabilities in Bangladesh, of whom over 14 lakh are women.
B-SCAN, in collaboration with WaterAid Bangladesh and Kimberly-Clark, launched the competition focused on innovation in affordable and widely accessible sanitary product design for women with disabilities, she said.
The competition is open for applications until April 23, and three winners will be awarded between Tk 75,000 and Tk 3,00,000 to develop and promote their products, she added.
WaterAid country director to Bangladesh Hasin Jahan, directorate general for Department of Social Service Saidur Rahman Khan and additional director for Departmen of Women Affairs Md Manir Hossain also spoke at the event, conducted by B-SCAN general secretary Salma Mahbub.
