It may not be common knowledge but there are female students in Malaysia who skip school when they have their monthly period or menstruation simply because their parents cannot afford to buy sanitary pads for them.

Several local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have come across this situation while carrying out community programmes in the interior areas of Sabah and Sarawak, as well as in Orang Asli settlements in the peninsula.

However, social workers have also been seeing this issue of “period poverty” existing among the urban poor communities, particularly since last year after the Covid-19 pandemic struck the nation and many people’s livelihoods were affected due to the enforcement of movement controls.

Period poverty is a global issue affecting communities that do not have access to safe, hygienic menstrual products...