What is Asan?
Asan is a social venture with a mission to eradicate period poverty across the world. By providing women with a hygienic and reusable menstrual product, Asan hopes to lessen incidence of infections as well as health hazards from unhygienic disposal of pads. (more details in following question). Asan operates a 1-for-1 donation model- by selling the Asan cup to those who can afford it and donating one for free to a woman or girl in the global south suffering from period poverty.
Asan’s aims to tackle persistent gender gaps across three areas: health outcomes, school attendance, and workforce participation. In addition, it hopes to lessen inequalities that exist between high and low-income women in India.
Let's talk about impact in health outcomes
Currently, 50% of women and girls in the developing world cannot afford access to safe period care, and rely on unhygienic solutions such as old rags, sand and ash. Current menstrual practices in India result in extremely poor health outcomes for women. Unhygienic practices may cause reproductive tract infections, which in turn increases their risk of cervical cancer (Bansal et al., 2001). Furthermore, more accessible menstrual products are made from plastic and considering India’s poor waste management systems they present further health and environmental hazard. Pads are discarded in roads and rivers, or are burned outside homes. By providing women with a hygienic and reusable menstrual product, Asan hopes to lessen incidence of infections as well as health hazards from unhygienic disposal of pads.