A papyrus sanitary pad, or Makapad, is a sanitary napkin

Sanitary napkin

A sanitary napkin, sanitary towel, sanitary pad, menstrual pad, maxi pad, or pad is an absorbent item worn by a woman while she is menstruating, recovering from vaginal surgery, for lochia , abortion, or any other situation where it is necessary to absorb a flow of blood from a woman's vagina.These...

 made from papyrus

Papyrus

Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....

, a natural material. It is reported to be 75 percent cheaper than a conventional pad and thus an advantage to the poor, as well as being highly absorbent.

The pads, developed by Dr. Moses Kizza Musaazi at Uganda

Uganda

Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...

's Makerere University

Makerere University

Makerere University , Uganda's largest and second-oldest higher institution of learning, , was first established as a technical school in 1922. In 1963 it became the University of East Africa, offering courses leading to general degrees from the University of London...

 Department of Technology, are targeted especially at rural primary school girls who have started menstruating

Menstrual cycle

The menstrual cycle is the scientific term for the physiological changes that can occur in fertile women for the purpose of sexual reproduction. This article focuses on the human menstrual cycle....

. These girls would normally find it difficult to attend school if they had no pads, and often cannot afford conventional pads.

They are made almost entirely from natural materials, with a few percent of non-woven material and polythene paper.