A question that rarely gets asked out loud
Last year, two HKU students set out to answer a question that rarely gets asked out loud on campus: does a lack of menstrual health support quietly affect students' ability to show up fully to university life?
The answer, it turned out, was yes.
What they found
Irish and Samira, senior members of the Wellbeing Team at Lady Ho Tung Hall, HKU's only all-female residential hall, had a hunch that something was being overlooked. So they looked for the evidence.
What they found was striking. Across a campus of 14 hectares, there was just one point of access for period products; a store with a limited selection of only mainstream, plastic-heavy products. Students caught off guard by their period had almost nowhere to turn.
In these instances, some rushed back to their rooms and missed class. In times of urgent need, some made do with tissue paper from a nearby washroom.
Stories included:
"I found out my period came and I had no choice but to rush back to hall. I ended up skipping class."
"I have had to resort to using tissue paper because the nearest supermarket was still hundreds of meters away."
Outside of urgent moments, many low-income students were left to quietly absorb the cost, placing further strain on already stretched budgets.
Then beyond the product access issues, students were carrying something harder to quantify: anxiety, shame, and the weight of a topic that campus life had never quite made room for.
Designing a response
Irish and Samira brought their insights to us, and together, we designed a response.
The result is a one-year pilot at Lady Ho Tung Hall, home to over 300 students from countries across the world, many managing on grants, loans, or without family financial support.
The programme provides free organic pads in washroom dispensers for moments of urgent need, alongside access to reusable period underwear for students who want to try them.
These reusable products can last for over three years, helping students save money while significantly reducing single-use plastic waste. When barriers to trying them are removed, the potential for both personal empowerment and environmental impact is clear.
Image: Irish and Samira launching free organic cotton pads in washrooms via our dispensers
More than products
But this was never just about products.
We have seen, again and again, how access to period care opens up something harder to manufacture: normalisation. The quiet but powerful shift that happens when a community stops treating menstrual health as a private problem and starts treating it as a shared experience worthy of discussion.
The launch
That shift was visible in March, when the program was officially launched at Lady Ho Tung Hall's High Table Dinner. In front of over 300 students, Irish and Samira shared their research, their vision, and their belief that campus life at HKU could and should look different.
Our founder Olivia joined them to speak about how this kind of initiative comes to life, not through charity or CSR budgets, but through purpose-driven procurement decisions made by employers across Hong Kong who have chosen to use their spending as a force for good.
The room, by all accounts, felt it.
"One of the most memorable reactions to the project launch for me was when residents were telling me, “this is what supporting women truly feels like!” It was not just a paper about women or a campaign, it was real action in support for period poverty." — Irish, student and project lead
"The reaction to this initiative has been truly incredible. The residents are actively using the products, which confirms the real need within our community. Most importantly, many of them have expressed immense relief and gratitude, and even willingness to help extending this program for the long term. It's truly making a tangible difference in our residents' daily lives." — Samira, student and project lead
Images: Good Period founder, Olivia, then Irish and Samira, speaking at the high table dinner
What we're tracking next
Over the coming months we will be tracking uptake across the Hall's washroom dispensers, shifts in how students talk about and experience menstrual health on campus, and whether reducing access barriers here creates a blueprint that can expand across HKU's wider campus and beyond.
The first distribution of reusable period care takes place this quarter. We will share everything we learn.
Where Good Period fits in
Good Period exists to make this easy for employers. We supply workplaces with sustainable, ethically sourced menstrual products, and every order channelled through us supports women and girls in underserved communities.
When you partner with us, you're not just ticking a box. You're making a procurement decision that your people will notice, that your ESG team will value, and that puts you on the right side of where global standards are heading.
Curious what it looks like in practice? Get in touch to see how organisations like yours have made it work.
Good Period is a certified B Corporation. We supply workplaces with sustainable menstrual health solutions that drive social and environmental impact at scale. Get in touch to find out how we can support your organisation.
