Muruganantham who hails from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India is one of the few stalwarts who used his invention to highlight and generate awareness about unhealthy menstruation practices in rural India. As a school dropout, he was adamant in resolving the sanitary napkin issue after observing his wife use newspapers and rags for sanitary purposes.
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It took Muruganantham seven years of trial and error to get his invention right. He even wore a sanitary napkin produced by his machine to get instant feedback on the product. He ultimately tested the pads himself using a punctured a soccer bladder filled with goat’s blood. The machine which cost Rs 65,000 INR was a revolution in women’s health and is now sold in 23 of 29 states in India through his NGO Jayshree Industries.
Consider the fact that an imported machine to make sanitary napkins costs approximately 35 million INR in India. Today his invention is also being used in 17 developing countries including states in Africa for making low-cost sanitary napkins for women.
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Muruganantham’s machine uses a weaving technique using pinewood pulp that grinds de fibrates and sterilizes the pads using ultraviolet before packaging them ready for sale. The method is based on the usual process of producing sanitary napkins but through low-cost techniques.
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