Context: Farhana Sultana, an assistant scientist at icddr,b, has won the grand prize for her proposed innovation -- developing a machine to produce jute cellulose-based disposable sanitary pads for sustainable menstrual health.
Key Points

• She developed the jute-cellulose based disposable sanitary pad as an alternative solution for the menstrual health and hygiene for women and girls in Bangladesh. Currently, there is no machine available to utilise the jute-cellulose to make sanitary pads.
• She works as an Assistant Scientist at the premier health research institute of Bangladesh.
• Farhana Sultana has been awarded the grand prize at the 4th Annual Innovations Pitch competition organised by the American Society for tropical medicine and Hygiene.
• She will now conduct an industrial trial for mass production of the sanitary pads and explore options to scale up the operations.

Importance

• Jute cellulose is a new material and currently, there is no machine available in the country to manufacture such pads which is a barrier to scalability.
• The industrial trial will also assess the compatibility, compressibility and stretchability of the pad, and conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis with other commercially available disposable sanitary pads.