I am a resident of South Africa, and we also have a huge concern about girls missing many days of school owing to the lack of access to sanitary pads. Further, many also do not have access to proper information about their reproductive health and menstruation. Much like Nepal, these are seen as embarrassing and taboo topics here.

Some of the large retail pharmacy stores in South Africa do have a system where shoppers can buy packets of pads and then donate them to a drive that provides them to girls in poverty-stricken areas. However, these are still the manufactured pads that your article (‘These reusable cloth pads are comfortable, cheap and healthy’, July 29) mentions, and they contribute to landfills filling up with waste.

I think a programme teaching groups of women entrepreneurs here in Johannesburg to make and sell the homemade pads, like the ones found in Nepal, could really work.

Sue Taylor, Johannesburg, South Africa