‘I didn’t want to eat due to the smell of period blood on my hands’

In India, one in 10 girls below the age of 21 cannot afford sanitary products (File pictures: Getty/Shutter​stock/UN Women)

Nagamma would refuse to eat after washing the rags she used during her period. She would scrub them in water for hours to remove the stains.

It was the pungent smell of blood – lingering on the social worker’s hands afterwards – that disgusted her the most and put her off her food.

Her story is far from unique. Being a menstruating woman in India means having to face many challenges...