As the newly crowned Miss Universe 2021 Harnaaz Sandhu celebrated her win with a grand homecoming, the queen along with the Miss Universe Organization announced the launch of a social impact alliance and a platform with social entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham, better known as Pad Man, social impact agency DDB For Good, and humanitarian organization Plan India to assist tackle menstruation equality.
Harnaaz has always been outspoken about her advocacy and the significance of female hygiene. She has followed her mother to various hospitals and health camps throughout the years, assisting her in educating many other women who are uninformed of their own feminine requirements.
While Plan India will serve as the coalition's on-the-ground NGO partner in the India pilot programme, helping to realize the coalition's aim of menstruation equity for over 5 million women and girls by 2025. DDB For Good, the DDB Mudra Group's dedicated social impact agency, will gather funding for the platform through public mobilization and creative storytelling. The Omnicom Group owns both companies.
"Gender equality can be reached by spreading adequate menstrual hygiene knowledge to girls and women," said Padma Shri awardee Arunachalam Muruganantham, also known as Pad Man, during the ceremony. Menstruation equity remains a pipe dream for at least three out of every five women in our country, thus this programme will begin in India, where 62 percent of young women and girls lack access to safe menstrual care, with plans to expand internationally in the following years.
Speaking about the coalition, Harnaaz said, “I am so proud to help launch this initiative. Because my mother is a gynaecologist, I have been aware of the menstrual inequity in my country for most of my life. Now I can help carry on her work by bringing awareness to this amazing coalition of individuals and organisations which are working together to end the stigma, educate the public, and provide access to necessary products.”
The coalition's multimillion-dollar fundraising target will be utilized to create a quantifiable effect on numerous fronts, including stigma reduction, education, legislation, and access to sustainable resources and goods for menstruation equity.