Kerala’s Women and Child Development Department will install sanitary napkin vending machines and incinerators at public places across the state under WOMN — Women on the Move & Menstrual Needs, an initiative aimed at making menstrual hygiene products more accessible to women and girls while travelling.
The project will cover major tourist destinations, KSRTC terminals and depots, and other public spaces, with the first vending machine planned at the Thampanoor KSRTC bus terminal in Thiruvananthapuram. The initiative is scheduled to be launched on October 6 as part of the state government’s 100-Day Action Plan, with Women and Child Development Minister Bindu Krishna set to inaugurate the project at 5 pm.
According to the department, sanitary napkins will be made available at affordable rates, alongside facilities for the environmentally friendly disposal of used products. The move is intended to address a practical gap faced by women during travel: access to menstrual products can become difficult when periods begin unexpectedly or supplies run out away from home. While the department has outlined the broad locations and objectives, details such as the total number of vending machines and incinerators and the complete rollout timeline have not yet been specified.
Easier Access
The first installation at Thampanoor is significant because the KSRTC bus terminal is one of the major transport hubs in the state capital, serving large numbers of passengers travelling within and beyond Thiruvananthapuram. Under WOMN, women and girls will be able to purchase sanitary napkins at affordable rates while on the move, reducing the need to leave a transport hub or search for a pharmacy when menstrual products are urgently required.
The department has also included disposal facilities in the project, recognising that access to a sanitary product is only one part of menstrual hygiene management. The initiative therefore combines availability with a means of handling used products in public spaces. The project is being positioned specifically around women’s needs during travel, rather than as a standalone health intervention.
Minister Bindu Krishna is scheduled to inaugurate the Thampanoor project on October 6, according to PTI reporting carried by multiple news organisations. The department’s stated focus is on making menstrual products easier to access while travelling and improving disposal arrangements in public places.
Building On Experience
WOMN is not Kerala’s first major intervention on menstrual hygiene. The state has been running menstrual-hygiene programmes through the Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation, including the SHE PAD Project, which provides sanitary napkins and supports the installation of napkin destroyers and vending machines in government and aided schools. According to the corporation, the programme has benefited more than 10 lakh girl students since its launch in 2017. Its wider menstrual-hygiene programme also focuses on awareness, access to menstrual products and reducing the stigma surrounding menstruation.
The state’s existing approach has therefore largely centred on educational institutions, while WOMN extends the same principle into everyday public mobility. Kerala has also previously experimented with sanitary-pad vending machines and disposal facilities in public locations. In 2017, the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation announced plans to install such facilities at several public locations, including railway and bus stations.
The latest initiative comes as menstrual hygiene increasingly intersects with conversations around public health, sanitation, dignity and women’s access to public spaces. Kerala’s Pollution Control Board also maintains provisions relating to sanitary-napkin incinerators and sanitary-waste management, underlining the importance of ensuring that disposal systems are properly managed alongside access to products.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
For women, menstruation does not stop when they leave home, board a bus or visit a tourist destination. Yet public infrastructure has often been designed around the assumption that menstrual needs can be managed privately and in advance.
Kerala’s WOMN initiative takes a useful step in challenging that assumption by recognising sanitary products and responsible disposal as legitimate components of public infrastructure. Its success, however, will depend not simply on installing machines but on ensuring that they remain stocked, affordable, accessible and properly maintained, while disposal facilities are operated responsibly.
The initiative also shows why menstrual hygiene needs to be viewed through a wider lens of dignity, mobility and inclusion rather than only as an individual health concern. If implemented effectively, such measures can make public spaces more responsive to the everyday realities of women and girls. As Kerala expands the programme, what more can governments and civic bodies do to ensure that basic menstrual needs are built into the design of the public spaces everyone depends on?
