As students, girls often have to face unexpected hassles if their period suddenly starts while at school. Then starts the whispering — asking for a pad from friends, and if none were found, quietly requesting the school's cleaning ladies to quickly get one from the shops nearby. Even after going to university, this is still a concern for many young women if they forget to keep an extra napkin in their bags. Many have thus wondered if there were a solution to this common experience.

The easy access to and availability of sanitary napkins is the main barrier to maintaining period hygiene outside the home for thousands of women. In schools, colleges, universities or other places, where most of the day is spent for studies or work, most of them are at risk due to the lack of availability of sanitary napkins. Also, most of the women in the country are unaware of the dangers of unhealthy habits like using cloth rags during their periods.

Freedom Vending Machine, an initiative of Freedom, one of the leading sanitary napkin brands in Bangladesh, has been playing a leading role in raising period health awareness for the past few years. As a part of this initiative, the country's first sanitary napkin vending machine was installed free of cost on Dhaka University Campus in 2019. The initial installation of 10 vending machines ensured availability of affordable sanitary napkins for the then 15,000 female students of the university. In addition, vending machines have also been installed at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, BAF Shaheen College, Eden Women's College, North South University, BRAC University, Jagannath University, Jahangirnagar University, Rajshahi University, and more such educational institutions.

Step by step, Freedom vending machines are spreading to various schools, colleges, and universities in the country, and have already crossed a hundred locations, creating access to affordable sanitary napkins for 3.5 million women at any given time.  

Today, from schools to colleges to universities, Freedom vending machines bring relief to girls. Girls can now buy napkins from vending machines at any time for just Tk 10. With the insertion of a single Tk 10 note, the machine releases a single sanitary napkin. There's no need to whisper, stress over, or feel embarrassed having to ask favours or uncomfortably talk to shopkeepers for such a basic hygiene item. This wonderful initiative of Freedom has brought girls infinite comfort towards accessing affordable sanitary napkins.

Freedom's goal is to ensure that the period does not become an obstacle to women's lives, celebrations, fulfilling dreams, or their empowerment. The initiative that started with 'Freedom Vending Machines' with the simple goal of making napkins available on educational institutes easily, is now moving ahead to ensure women's menstrual hygiene by creating the 'Freedom Hygiene Network,' by installing more vending machines.