Fems AYA Celebrates the first year of its journey of eradicating period poverty

Fems Aya, the nationwide initiative of Fems, the feminine Sanitary Care brand of Hemas Consumer Brands celebrates its first anniversary of impacting lives and communities by offering awareness on menstrual health and equal access to low- cost high quality sanitary napkins.

Fems launched its purposeful initiative ‘Fems AYA’ on the International Women’s Day - March 8th, 2021, together with like-minded partners who are the Merrill J. Fernando Foundation, the Arka Initiative, Sarvodaya Women’s Movement, and Sarvodaya-Fusion. Hon. Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle, the State Minister of Primary Health Care, Epidemics and COVID Disease Control graced the event as chief guest supported by media personal

Throughout the past year and right through the pandemic Fems continued to create training and education for 2500 women in local communities in rural villages to plantation workers and youth. Training programmes were conducted, both virtually and in person, with the support of the project partners.

Being a progressive corporate leader, Hemas Consumer Brands was the first corporate that decided to live its purpose within the organization by implementing an in-house free distribution of Fems AYA sanitary napkins to 6700+ employees of both genders. This internal distribution amongst their workforce helped further push the normalization of the conversation among their personal and professional settings. The product itself played the role of delivering access to an affordable and high-quality menstrual hygiene product, but the drive encouraged all team members to get involved in the all-important discussion on menstrual health and hygiene.

Along with the nationwide awareness initiative, Fems introduced Fems AYA, to address the need for an affordable sanitary napkin for Sri Lankan women. Fems AYA, a high- quality cotton-feel sanitary napkin with wings is manufactured in line with international standards and helps women stay comfortable and confident. All the raw materials used in its production meet the necessary safety standards, and it comes with a soft cotton-feel sheet for the woman’s comfort and wings for maximum protection.