Last spring, the Czech government added menstrual pads to the stockpile of state reserves in the event of a natural disaster, catastrophe or war.
The Ministry of Finance will therefore purchase sanitary towels for CZK 6 million, the first tranche of which will be delivered by TZMO by the end of November.
“We are currently working on a contract with food banks, because they will receive two million of these disposable sanitary towels at the end of November free of charge, as part of the fight against period poverty. Another four million pieces will then be delivered to our warehouses by the end of the year,” said the president of the State Material Reserves Administration (SSHR), Pavel Švagr, quoted by iDnes.
Menstrual pads will be kept in state reserves in case of natural disasters, war, or other disasters and crises. According to the Ministry of Finance, the planned number of ten million should cover up to a five-day outage of this commodity in the event of an emergency.
According to the Minister of Finance Alena Schillerová, menstrual poverty is a problem that affects about 70,000 women in the Czech Republic.
“Menstrual poverty is a typical social taboo. Unfortunately, the fact that it is not talked about much does not mean that it does not exist. Following the example of the more advanced Western countries, we have decided to end this. And I am happy that we have found a model that will also strengthen the resilience of our country in the event of sudden crises and lack of resources,” wrote Schillerová.
According to the ministry, the proposed procedure follows the current trend evident in a number of developed countries, such as New Zealand, Ireland or the United Kingdom.
