I just discovered this innovative startup aiming to address a need using a low cost technology, produce a product locally and enable local economic development via a franchising model. I plan on having a much more detailed post in a couple of weeks, in the meantime here is the quick blurb:

Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) is a 6 employee startup founded in 2008 by Elizabeth Scharpf. SHE Is looking to “create female-run franchises that manufacture and distribute low priced, high quality, and eco-friendly sanitary napkins for domestic and international consumption.” Their goal is to develop “a sanitary pad for women and girls intended to be low-cost and environmentally friendly. The company’s product is focused on women in developing countries, where women miss up to 50 days of school or work per year when they menstruate because existing pads are too expensive.”

I’ll get a lot more details up in a couple of weeks. In the mean time here are some other reproductive health innovations/technologies we have covered before:

• Maternova: Life Changing Technology for Women and Children, link
• Misoprostol (Venture Strategies): how to stop postpartum hemorrage, link
  
• Microbicides: Where are the now? link