Blood-stained newspapers expose the reality of period poverty in South Africa

Charity The MENstruation Foundation partnered with agency Joe Public to turn three South African newspapers into a striking reminder of period poverty.

Readers of The Star, The Mercury and Cape Times opened their papers to find blood stains printed across the front page, seeping through the newsprint as if the paper had been used as a sanitary pad.

The idea was designed to confront a reality faced by millions of South African schoolgirls, who resort to newspapers, rags and other unsafe substitutes when period products are out of reach.

The campaign’s message, “A newspaper can absorb the blood, but not the shame,” puts the issue in the public eye with unusual directness.

Period poverty can cause girls to miss up to five days of school each month, creating a long-term barrier to education, health and dignity.

The MENstruation Foundation currently reaches 100,000 schoolgirls a month through its sanitary pad dispensing machine model.

Co-founder Siv Ngesi says, “Just R60 supplies a schoolgirl with pads for an entire year.”

Joe Public’s team developed the blood-stain artwork through photography, retouching and print testing with Independent Newspapers, creating an intervention that uses newsprint to make the issue impossible to ignore.