A WILTSHIRE charity to highlight period and sanitary problems for women in India has been raising cash to provide free reusable sanitary protection in the sub-continent said organiser Kathryn Crosweller of Chippenham.

She co-founded the charity Women and Girls in 2017 as 23 per cent of girls in India drop out of school when they start having periods because they do not have access to suitable sanitary protection.

Women and Girls provides females in India with sanitary protection that is culturally and geographically sensitive, kind to the environment and said Mrs Crosweller, the key to helping women and girls "be healthier, happier and free to fulfil their potential."

Mrs Crosweller said: “We supply women and girls with two types of sanitary protection: Saakfins and Safepads.

“Both are produced in India, meaning we are helping to support the local economy, and both are made of material that is inherently anti-bacterial.

“This means that the sanitary protection can be washed in dirty water and remains clean and hygienic to use.”

A recent poetry competition organised by the charity helped to spread the message to young people in this country with poems submitted from schools on the theme of the monthly cycle.

This is one from a Liverpool schoolgirl called Mirha, aged 15:

It’s time for action and here is why:

A man bleeds for death,

for agony and injury.

A woman bleeds for strength,

for joy and to create new life.

And this is a poem by Komal, aged 18

Sacred and beautiful when u need,

But cursed and impure when I bleed,

But I AM OK…

Mrs Crosweller set up Women and Girls after learning about the products through the work of another charity Sanitation First, set up by her father David Crosweller.

She travelled to India in September to visit the factory, meet girls at schools and contact people who could distribute the sanitary products.

She said: “We’ve been really impressed by the positive response we’ve had from the poetry competition.

"For young people in the UK to feel that they have the chance to help girls in India understand their bodies seems to have really struck a chord.”

To find out more about their work and to donate to the charity please visit www.womenandgirls.org.uk