science

Papyrus sanitary pad

Papyrus sanitary pad is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Papyrus sanitary pad rather than just read about it. In short: A papyrus sanitary pad, or Makapad, is a sanitary napkin made from papyrus, a natural material. It is reported to be 75 percent cheaper than a conventional menstrual pad and thus an advantage to the poor, as well as being highly absorbent.

Key takeaways

Papyrus sanitary pad belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Papyrus sanitary pad to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Papyrus sanitary pad from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A papyrus sanitary pad, or Makapad, is a sanitary napkin made from papyrus, a natural material. It is reported to be 75 percent cheaper than a conventional menstrual pad and thus an advantage to the poor, as well as being highly absorbent. It is Africa's first hand-made menstrual hygiene product that is made completely with materials available locally, with its biggest production plant being in Kawempe. Makapad is an acronym used for menstruation, administration, knowledge, and affordability.

Background Information The papyrus sanitary pad aims primarily to help make sanitary pads an affordable and accessible necessity for young girls in developing countries. They help tackle the problem of girls' absenteeism in school owing to menstruation and associated behaviours for which they do not have adequate facilities (for example: lack of privacy for cleaning, poor availability of pads, lack of education about menstrual hygiene, lack of separate toilet facilities, and lack of access to water). Many women in the west of Uganda have to employ poor substitutes for sanitary pads, considering they are twice the cost of their average incomes ($1,25 a day). While only a handful few can afford this luxury, most others make use of cloth rags, banana leaves, or waste paper. Along with being ineffective options, they can also affect the women's menstrual hygiene negatively. They pose a risk to their health and contribute to their increasing absenteeism. In light of this situation, Makapads, being absorbent pads with up to 8 to 10 hours of usage, are not only better alternatives among other available menstrual products, but also help balance out the negative effect on the environment that conventional sanitary pads have.

Production The pads, developed by Dr. Moses Kizza Musaazi at Uganda's Makerere University Department of Technology, are targeted especially at rural primary school girls who have started menstruating. These girls would normally find it difficult to attend school if they had no pads, and often cannot afford conventional pads. These sanitary pads also provide employment opportunities for the women of the rural communities in Uganda. They are made entirely by hand, using local materials. This was part of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) program to provide locally made Makapads to women and girls throughout refugee camps in Uganda. The pads are made out of dry papyrus and mixed with waste paper and then stitched with non-woven absorbent pieces of cloth. The papyrus fibres, once dried and pulverised, are mixed with paper and water to make a thick paste. The paste is then sun-dried, smoothed and cut to size into absorbent inserts. This is the only part of production which is performed mechanically with the help of machines. The rest of it mostly produced manually and is thus a form of employment for many. The pads are then exposed to ultra violet light to eliminate any germs or bacteria. Finally, they are combined into packs of three and are ready to be put up for sale. They are made almost entirely from natural materials, the rest being non-woven material and polythene paper. The main materials used in producing these pads are papyrus and waste paper. The energy consumed in their production is direct sunlight (350 W), through solar panels, making it a very environment-friendly and sustainable option. These pads are almost 100 per cent biodegradable, are chemical-free, and also affordable since their target audience are young girls in developing countries, mainly Sierra Leone and Uganda. There are a few limitations in the production and distribution of Makapads. Presently, Makapads are not very popular in the commercial market, and are heavily dependent on the UNHCR for funding. Additionally, they can be produced only in very specific kind of environments which provide adequate water supply and suitable soil for growing papyrus. This makes their production a little less reliable than alternatives available

References

External links And The Winner is…, wins second prize in the UN-HABITAT's Mashariki Innovations In Local Governance Awards Programme (MILGAP) http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/latest/2013/3/5141cc7a6/papyrus-scrap-paper-monthly-blessing-refugee-women-uganda.html

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Papyrus sanitary pad

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Papyrus sanitary pad claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Papyrus sanitary pad before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Papyrus sanitary pad ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Papyrus sanitary pad

In research: Papyrus sanitary pad appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Papyrus sanitary pad in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Papyrus sanitary pad is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Appropriate technology, Feminine hygiene, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Papyrus sanitary pad outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Papyrus sanitary pad in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Papyrus sanitary pad means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Papyrus sanitary pad out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Papyrus sanitary pad in simple terms?

Why does Papyrus sanitary pad matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Papyrus sanitary pad?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Papyrus sanitary pad.