23 million girls drop out of school. This vicious cycle is a difficult one to break as it faces problems in various layers - the societal taboo around menstruation, the lack of knowledge amongst mothers and most importantly, no formal source of information around menstrual health and hygiene.

While P&G Whisper hosts school programmes to educate these girls and their families, it wasn’t enough. We found a solution that could trigger a snowball of change - a simple act of including the chapter on MHM (menstrual health and management) in government regulated schoolbooks.

So, we partnered with UNESCO and created a petition campaign to highlight ‘The Missing Chapter’. We even partnered with CNBC to host panel discussions across the network with key opinion leaders and stakeholders. It drove awareness, created debates and put pressure on government officials to discuss and implement the chapter in the public curriculum.

We also adapted the chapter in 28 native languages and art styles to reach the remotest parts of India. We put them up on school walls and the path these girls take to school, that would lead them to ask the right questions and have open discussions.

These efforts got various state ministers to implement MHM classes in their public schools, with the government including UNESCO’s MHM curriculum in public school books.