Dignity campaign hits UK stores (24-08-07)

o replace hygienic sanitary protection with newspapers and dirty rags, a practice which has led to severe infections for which there is no available medication. Furthermore, these infections are often falsely attributed to sexual promiscuity leading to social embarrassment and domestic violence.
Sanitary product manufacturer Bodyform has joined forces with Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) to support its ‘Dignity! Period.’ campaign to raise vital funds as well as bringing the severe situation to the public’s attention. Bodyform will be donating funds for a quarter of a million packs of sanitary towels to be produced in Zimbabwe for those women unable to afford basic sanitary protection.
The campaign and the partnership with Bodyform will be covered in major stores throughout the UK, with Sainsbury’s, Boots and Tesco’s all advertising the products. Stars such as Emma Thompson, Gillian Anderson and Anna Chancellor have also pledged their support.
Emma Thompson said: “I was very moved when I heard about the desperate situation that women in Zimbabwe are facing. It should be a woman’s most basic human right to be able to have safe and affordable sanitary protection.”
Since launching the campaign in 2005, ACTSA, in solidarity with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), has distributed more than 3 million sanitary pads to the women and girls of Zimbabwe. – ACTSA