Perak plans to provide sanitary napkin vending machines at primary schools

 

Perak plans to provide sanitary napkin vending machines at primary schools to address the issue of period poverty among adolescents and women from the B40 group in the state.

State Women, Family, Social Welfare and Entrepreneur Development committee chairperson Salbiah Mohamed said there is a need for such a facility considering that many young girls are now having their first period early.

“We need to find out whether the state education department provides sanitary pads to students. And we will look for suitable locations to place the machines.

“I also welcome any quarters who want to implement a corporate social responsibility on this,” she told reporters after presenting basic sanitary kits to female students at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Raja Chulan in Ipoh, Perak today.

Meanwhile, Salbiah said the state government had tabled a proposal at the National Entrepreneurship Development Council meeting to create a Suppliers’ Day in a bid to reduce the costs of raw materials.

“The state government is encouraging entrepreneurs to implement the ‘Menu Rahmah’ programme and through the proposal, we want to ensure that the charges imposed by suppliers are reasonable.

“Apart from that, I also requested the relevant ministry to continue the ‘Jualan Harga Patut’ programme. If traders can buy raw materials at a low cost, they can sell food items at low prices,” she added.

- Bernama