It's a basic need - access to sanitary towels.
And yet it is not as accessible for everyone as it should be.
Locally, a woman is diagnosed with cervical cancer every single minute in South Africa and the reasons as to why this statistic is growing at an alarming rate are being pondered from as far away as the World Health Organisation to civil society right here within our borders.
Vivian Mokome has taken it upon herself to do a little more than think about the reasons why this is happening, and has instead affected change.
The PhD Information Systems graduate from Soshanguve has an intrepid mind which is what led her down this path. She is of the notion as many people are, that the chemicals used to make run of the mill sanitary products for women are made without consideration of what the chemicals used could do to impact the health of the women who use them.
She has gone about importing an organic pad called Dignity which she has distributed for free at various schools and communities through her foundation. The plans are to get more involvement from municipalities and government to eventually see this product-which is imported and assembled locally, manufactured in full in the country.
Vivian’s mission
“So, for me, to find out that in Africa, we are still using the same products -that's when I saw the need to have this product in our own country, our continent. I spoke to one of my business partners who also loved the idea. Any person that sees this pad, you have no choice but to love it. I presented the idea to my business partner George Sebulela and told him that we should start a manufacturing plant in South Africa,” the 40-year-old, who resides is Bushbuckridge, explains.
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Vivian started knocking on different doors looking for backing and people who might be interested in what should be a pressing matter for South Africans. She started by simply importing certain organic sanitary products from overseas and she would even go as far as to donate some of these before she honed in on the Dignity brand, which she envisions being the benchmark for sanitary pads in the country.
“I started knocking on different doors, approaching different people and showing them what we can do with the product and how an African child, an African woman can benefit from this product. So that's how it all started,” she explains passionately.
What is an organic pad?
What sets the Dignity pad apart from the more popular brands on shelves is that there are no recycled materials used in the manufacturing of these.
“You know with our normal pads; they are made up of recycled materials. Some even use industrial bleach or industrial paint to keep it together, and they are made up of plastic.
Now, with this one, there is no industrial bleach, there is no plastic and there is no other harmful chemical that is being used on the pad, which makes it safe for women.”
She explains how this is important to consider for women.
“Because your vagina is the most sensitive part of your body, and it easily absorbs things. Now, if there are chemicals or sanitary liquids, such as neo dioxin or industrial bleach and so on, it becomes easier to be absorbed through your bloodstream and into your womb.”
She is steadfast in her notions that such chemicals cause harm to the vagina and in turn have seen a rise in health care issues related to the products women use during menstruation. Vivian says she read an article that stated that, “around 60% of our gynecological problems are because of inferior quality sanitary liquid. When we talk about 60%, that's a vast number, which is six out of 10, of our reproductive or gynecological health problems as a woman, and it's the result of poor quality sanitary liquid.”
So, what exactly is poor sanitary liquid?
“We never know until you are introduced to an organic sanitary liquid. A superior quality sanitary liquid should not have any chemicals in there. There should not be plastic in there. If you do use plastic, it should be air permeable.
“There should be air moving in between. It shouldn't be locked. If everything is locked inside the plastic, think about it, that area becomes a breathing ground for bacteria. A good sanitary liquid has a high absorption capacity as well, it should be able to lock moisture. It should not leak.”
The Dignity pad is comprised of eight layers which Vivian says is better than what you might find other products offering.
“Ours has eight layers. Whereas the normal sanitary liquid will have two to five layers. We didn't just add layers for the sake of it. Each layer of this sanitary liquid has its own functionality and each pack, has what we call a heat tester.”
Using this heat tester you can check the acidity, PH, and heat levels of your vagina before using the Dignity pad.
A man’s work?
Vivian also does educational sessions with youth, both girl and boy children to help educate them on matters pertaining to their bodies and she says that young women struggle with their time of the month, even opting to stay at home from school for fear that other children might ridicule and mock them for being on their period. Vivian is still astounded by the stigma and lack of understanding still attached to the menstrual cycle.
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“You'd be shocked that the stigma that there still is in 2023 and this is through poor education. Educating a child about these things is considered wrong, because that's what I do in all my children. When I do my workshops at schools, it's not only about the girl child, but the boy child is also part of the community. They should also know what is happening with their sisters. If we don't talk about it, more of our people will never know.”
She also brags about the packaging of her product and says it is clearly designed and thought up by a woman.
“There's no normal woman who designs what we are using regularly. I'm telling you. When I looked at the packaging of brands I used before, I think a man designed the pads we use. Then I look at the Dignity packaging and number one, it is resealable, you can open and close it again.
“I mean the girls that I've worked with and that I've given this product to through our donation drives, all of them, the first thing that they loved was the packaging.”
She believes more outreach work needs to be done as a lack of access to sanitary products and decent quality ones at that is impacting the attendance of learners in schools as well as their development and self-esteem, issues that could become lifelong problems for a young person.
“For now, we are selling them directly, but we are working with different retail shops. My goal is to make sure that every household in South Africa for now, when they talk about sanitary napkins, they talk about quality sanitary napkins.”
This project has taken on three phases of roll out, “the first phase was the introduction of the product, which we have done, and the second phase was the assembly of the product here in South Africa, so that we could create job opportunities. The last phase, which will take some time is a manufacturing plant here in South Africa. I'm having talks with different stakeholders that are interested in this project.”
The journey has taken six months from its inception to this point and Vivian says the future of her brand is looking bright.
She passionately believes that numbers around cervical related diseases were not as rampant for older generations as they had simpler approaches to dealing with their periods.
“They would use a cloth, a cloth which was once a safer option. You would wash it, dry it, and use it again. Since women are exposed to all these products, now check the status of cervical cancer. It's now high among women, which was never the case before, and this is not something I am saying for the sake of it this is according to the World Health Organization. Countries like Kenya even once banned some of the products we use so freely here."
These pads will be more readily available to the public in due course and Vivian is also looking to expand to other parts of Africa like Lesotho and talk between her foundation and the prime minister are said to be going well.
