During the plenary meeting in June, we met some of the delegates who shared their views on the importance of developing international standards for menstrual products. Some of the voices were from LMIC where an international standard for menstrual products will have the most impact.
Read their stories here.
Pramudi Perera – Sri Lanka
Assistant Director, Sri Lanka Standard Institution
“Specially, when setting limits and choosing the applicable test methods, it is sometimes difficult to convince manufacturers and importers during the working group stage. By using the ISO standard as a guideline, we can show them the global safety requirements that need to be ensured. So that it will be easier to make decisions."
Amal Elhenawy – Egypt
Technical secretary, Egyptian Organization for Standards and Quality
ISO standards have many benefits for the consumers, not only to obtain safe and effective products, but these products should also be comfortable. Comfortable products will help girls and women to participate in the activities such as education, sports and social activities. ISO standards will also help to achieve the sustainability development goals (SDG’s) such as health, sanitary, education and gender equality.”
Elijah Kiwanuka – Uganda
Technical Product Manager, AFRIpads
“My country benefits from this trip and the menstrual products standardization work: it is helping girls, the nation and manufacturers in terms of trade. Standards help to set consistent requirements for quality and safety, so at the end consumers get products that meet a certain, defined quality and standard.”