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Friday, March 17, 2006 12:00 AM

Period pain in Zimbabwe

Women in Zimbabwe are suffering due to a shortage of sanitary pads, but their government denies the problem.
Page Rockwell

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  • Friday, March 17, 2006 02:26 PM

    What did they do before pads?

    Women have been having periods for thousands of years, millennia before the invention of commercial sanitary pads.

    And I imagine in Zimbabwe it's only been a couple of generations since traditional ways of coping with menstruation have been displaced by pads -- undoubtedly within the memory of the female elders.

    Why they heck are they dependent on Western commercial "sanitary" products? Is it really unthinkable that they use what their foremothers used?

    I feel for women who suffer, but is this really among the most important public health issues in Africa?

    —ralafler Read ralafler's other letters

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