Meet 18-year-old Advaitesha Birla who founded Ujaas to spread menstrual health awareness
Advaitesha Birla, a Class 12 student, has launched Ujaas, a non-profit organisation, to spread awareness about menstrual health and hygiene through school workshops, distribution of sanitary pads, and training girls in manufacturing pads.
The youngest member of the Birla family, Advaitesha Birla, daughter of Kumar Mangalam Birla, recently turned 18 years old and founded her own non-profit organisation, Ujaas, under the Aditya Birla Education Trust (Abet) in December 2021.
With Ujaas, Advaitesha wants to bring sustainable change in menstrual health and hygiene management by bringing more awareness at the grassroot level. Ujaas aims to break taboos and stigmas around the issue by not only reaching out to young girls but their families as well, Advaitesha tells HerStory.
“We conduct age-appropriate workshops to initiate dialogue around menstruation and hygiene. We also distribute free sanitary napkins to those who lack access to them. Our third vertical consists of identifying measures of sustainable interventions so girls can become self-sufficient and don’t have to rely on organisations for menstrual health management,” she says.
Ujaas also trains young girls to make their own sanitary napkins, making it a mode of earning for them, and Advaitesha claims the organisation has made an impact on 10,000 girls.
Motivation behind Ujaas
Advaitesha, who is set to complete her schooling this year and aims to pursue a degree in psychology, says she was always passionate about giving back to society.
“Women empowerment and gender equality are subjects close to my heart, and seeing my mother found Abet also motivated me a lot.”
“A few experiences led me to want to work in the menstrual health space. We think that myths and stigmas don’t exist anymore but they are very much prevalent. As I researched more, I came across disturbing statistics and figures that moved me and that’s when I thought that I want to work in this space and contribute to society,” she says.
Workshops on menstruation
One of Ujaas’ projects involves conducting sessions with mothers to educate them on menstrual health and the support they can provide their girls when they are menstruating.
Advaitesha believes this not only provides girls with a support system but also helps them get correct information from a reliable source.
“When we worked with communities, we found that many girls don’t even know what menstruation is until they get their first period. That needs to change,” she says.
Workshops of Ujaas
Menstrual health workshops in schools aren’t new. Ujaas also conducts these workshops but faced a challenge when it proposed the inclusion of young boys in the workshops as well.
“The first thing I proposed was to have a workshop with boys on menstrual health and hygiene, but we didn’t get a positive response. So, we decided to first educate girls; the session with boys would be the next step. It is something that we definitely want to work towards. Young boys grow up completely oblivious about menstruation. This has to change; it plays a big role in gender equality.
“Once we establish a rapport with schools, educate girls, and make them comfortable, it would be easier to reach out to boys and men. Most schools aren’t open to it, but we will hopefully get there,” she says.
Ujaas has distributed 2,00,000 sanitary napkins within five months of being started and two months of being launched. It at present works in areas of Maharashtra, including Pune, Amravati, Washim, Yavatmal, and Gadchiroli among others, but Advaitesha plans to take it “across India”.
Edited by Teja Lele