KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 – While there have been initiatives that address period poverty in the country, these initiatives have usually been implemented under the broader banner of sanitation or reproductive health, according to a report on menstruation by the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam).
In 2018, Malaysia eliminated the pink tax, which refers to the additional costs that women often incur for additional goods, such as sanitary products and items marketed specifically towards women.
At the national level, the government has initiated measures such as distributing free sanitary pads to menstruators from low income backgrounds as an initial step to address period poverty.
In April 2022, it approved the National Reproductive Health and Social Education Policy and Action Plan (PEKERTI), which is primarily aimed at enhancing awareness of reproductive and social health education at the individual, family and community levels.
Other measures include earmarking nearly RM800 million in 2023 under the Ministry of Education (MOE) for toilet maintenance and repairs in schools and institutions.
MOE also conducted an engagement session in October 2024 to learn about initiatives being undertaken to address period poverty. During this session, the Sabah State Education Department shared that among 126,878 primary and secondary students in the state, almost half (49 per cent) lacked adequate access to sanitary products.
At the state level, Selangor became the first Malaysian state to provide free sanitary pads through a budget allocation of RM200,000 for this purpose in 2023.
In Johor, RM1.3 million was allocated for mobile clinics to provide basic health services to underserved populations. Sabah and Sarawak Health Departments have also collaborated with relevant stakeholders to deploy health care workers and mobile health teams to rural and remote locations, providing essential health services to children and families in need.
Since 2016, the Sarawak Social Development Council and Department of Education Saawak have been running sex education programmes known as Kesedaran dan Advokasi Pendidikan Seksual (Sex Education Awareness and Advocacy) or KAPS.
Non-Governmental Period Poverty Initiatives
The issue of period poverty was propelled into the media spotlight in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the report. In the years that followed, a number of initiatives spearheaded by NGOs have emerged to also tackle the issue.
In July 2019, the Malaysian NGO MyCorps Alumni launched the Bunga Pads initiative, a programme that provides sanitary pads to low-income female students. The following year, the Rotary Club Petaling Jaya contributed a sanitary pad-making machine to Kajang Prison, capable of producing 160 to 170 pads per day.
Marginalised communities were not left out as humanitarian NGOs like the ElShaddai Centre worked in collaboration with NGOs specialising in sexual reproductive health (SRH) to conduct a series of workshops in Ampang for Rohingya and Afghan women.
These workshops covered topics such as sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), unplanned pregnancies and contraceptives, as well as breast and cervical cancer.
According to a representative from Stop Human Trafficking (SHUT), an NGO advocating for the prevention of human trafficking in Malaysia, rescued victims receive a kit containing essential items such as disposable panties, a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, shower gel, a towel, and sanitary pads, funded by the government.
Additionally, SHUT provides blankets and pillows, as well as soft toys and clothing for rescued children.
Meanwhile, human rights NGO, Tenaganita, conducted a short survey among survivors in their shelters in Petaling Jaya and Penang in March 2025.
Based on the results, both shelters provided adequate access to menstrual products, ensuring that survivors have easy access to sanitary pads when needed.
Furthermore, while a majority of survivors in the Penang shelter have reached menopause, they continue to be informed about menstrual hygiene.
Some survivors at the Petaling Jaya shelter have also expressed a preference for hygiene wash products and menstrual pain relief medication to improve their comfort and well-being, suggesting their awareness of menstrual health and hygiene.
Athena Empowers: A Comprehensive Menstrual Programme
One of the most notable initiatives to address period poverty is run by a social enterprise called Athena Holdings.
According to the Suhakam report, Athena has implemented a comprehensive menstrual programme called Athena Empowers that provides reusable menstrual products and includes post-distribution monitoring to assess long-term outcomes.
To date, Athena has directly sponsored 3,883 girls, excluding those supported through corporate collaborations.
For every 1,500 girls who have received Athena reusable pads, systematic follow up is conducted to monitor usage and impact.
Overall, the findings indicate that a significant number of recipients continue to use the products on a regular basis, providing evidence of sustained behavioural change, noted the report.
At the online launch of the report last August 1, Anja Juliah Abu Bakar, founder and Social Impact director of Athena, said the impetus for transitioning Athena’s business model from a for-profit enterprise to a social enterprise was learning that period poverty caused a high rate of absenteeism among school girls in Malaysia.
According to her, it is estimated that globally about 500 million female individuals are affected by period poverty. Back in 2012, she learned that about 15,000 girls in Malaysia missed five to seven days of school per month, resulting in about 60 to 84 days of absenteeism per year, due to lack of access to menstrual products.
“We were kind of shocked to learn about those figures. And I guess that’s the start when we decided to switch our business model from conventional, I mean from a for profit model, to a social enterprise.
“And that’s when we started to work on our costing, in what ways we can find a way to sponsor those affected girls in the rural area.”
She said Athena, which was founded in 2009, produces washable reusable sanitary pads and biodegradable sanitary pads.
While the washable sanitary pads are quite costly because they are made of certified and premium fabric, 35 per cent of the organisation’s operational cost is used to fund activities when they visit communities.
“For every RM1 we receive from selling the sanitary products, 35 cents will be put away. And that’s how we collect the money to fund the activities. We’ll start to run the programme when we hit 50 pads.
“The cost of doing the programme is RM250 per girl in Peninsular. And if it’s in Sabah and Sarawak, the cost goes up to RM350 because we have other costs like logistics, accommodation, and so on. So, that’s how it works as a social enterprise.”
Apart from providing girls in rural areas in Sabah, Sarawak and Orang Asli villages in Peninsular with sanitary pads, Athena also highlights the importance of education to the girls.
Due to high rates of absenteeism because of the lack of sanitary products, the girls tend to fall behind in school, said Anja, and this results in declining interest in their studies, leading some girls to completely drop out of school.
While Anja said she was a college dropout, as a “city girl”, she benefited from having a support system. “And the most important thing was that I knew what I wanted, and I still wanted to further my studies, regardless that I’ve dropped out of college. Somehow, I managed to, I mean, find a way to get more money, and finally, travel abroad, went to the UK.
“But these girls, from my own personal observation and understanding, by talking to the communities, they may not have a role model, someone to support them and (explain) the importance of having ambitions, goals, whatsoever,” she said, adding that this was her personal motivation for conducting Athena’s programmes.
According to Anja, Athena’s girls empowerment programme has also been implemented in Indonesia, Cambodia, and Africa.
Environmental And Economic Impact Of Reusable Sanitary Pads
The programme also has a positive environmental impact, she said. “For every 1,500 girls who receive and use our product for the duration of at least five years, we have actually reduced almost half a million disposable pads to landfills.
Its contribution to environmental sustainability is acknowledged in Suhakam’s report, which cited a study conducted by LPPKN in 2022 that discovered that 96.7 per cent of menstruators in Malaysia use disposable pads.
On average, a menstruating individual uses about four to six pads per day during menstruation. If a menstrual cycle lasts five days, that means approximately 20 to 30 pads are used per month. In a year, this comes up to 240 to 360 disposable pads per person.
When multiplied by the number of menstruating individuals in the country, the environmental burden becomes staggering, noted the report.
Disposable sanitary pads are made from plastic and synthetic materials, which can take 500 to 800 years to completely decompose in landfills.
The report noted that the switch to reusable products through Athena’s programme not only diverted an estimated 467,000 disposable pads from landfills, it also enabled girls and their families to save approximately RM600 to RM1,000 over a five-year period, reducing the financial burden of purchasing menstrual products.
However, according to the report, there is still taboo and stigma sounding reusable pads and menstrual cups. This was also acknowledged as a challenge by Anja in her presentation, especially in conservative communities.
Other challenges she cited include minimal corporate and public understanding in the early days of running the programme and a lack of national policy on menstrual equity.
Period Poverty Not Framed As A Distinct Issue
On the same note, Suhakam’s chief children’s commissioner, Farah Nini Dusuki, said Suhakam’s report reflects “the structural inequalities that have made menstruation invisible in public policy, budget allocations, and mainstream discourse.”
According to the report, while the government acknowledges the existence of period poverty as having limited access to sanitary products, the framing of period poverty as a distinct issue was largely absent.
It noted that no comprehensive national level background study on the issue has been conducted.
In its report, Suhakam called for a robust national framework to address period poverty effectively and the need for long-term planning to ensure the sustainable implementation of the framework.
