Charities support sanitary subsidy

A move by Pharmac to look at whether it could subsidise the cost of sanitary items has got the thumbs up from charities.

Rochelle Steer, of Hawera’s Kai Kitchen, said the high cost of sanitary items was a real issue for women she helped.

She said due to the ‘‘personal’’ nature of the issue, women were too embarrassed to ask for help.

Steer said she made a conscious effort to include tampons or pads into parcels which were donated to families, especially ones which had teenage girls.

On Monday, Pharmac announced it was looking into whether subsidising sanitary items was within its funding powers. Pharmac decides which pharmaceuticals to publicly fund in New Zealand.

The application to the government agency was received from a private citizen late last year, which asked if it could help with the cost of sanitary items.

The first step in the process is for Pharmac to determine whether the application falls within the scope of its work.

At the moment, Steer said she had to ask specifically for sanitary items to be donated as it was not usually among the items given to her charity by the public.

She said people often forgot items like that were a ‘‘necessity’’.

‘‘You can’t be a woman and get by without those products.’’

Steer said any possibility the costs for sanitary products could be subsidised was something she fully supported.

New Plymouth Foodbank manager Mike Merrick said requests for sanitary products were not uncommon.

While sanitary items were donated, the supply was often random.

‘‘We can only give out what comes in,’’ he said.

He said along with sanitary items, other hygiene products like soap, shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrushes were also needed.

Merrick said he was aware the cost of sanitary items was prohibitive so anything which could alleviate this would be positive.