College of Medicine student works to improve women’s hygiene in Nepal

Penn State College of Medicine student Aditi Sharma, standing in the back row, second from left, and wearing a white top, is seen with community members in midwest Nepal.

Aditi Sharma, a student in the doctor of public health program at Penn State College of Medicine, wants to enhance the quality of life for women and girls living in Nepal through a program that improves feminine hygiene.

A member of the Young Leaders Fellowship Program for the global advocacy group Women Deliver, Sharma was awarded a seed grant from Johnson & Johnson. Sharma developed an educational program for underserved populations living near Surkhet, Nepal, through a non-governmental organization that she co-founded called Kalyani. The program teaches women and girls the importance of feminine hygiene and aims to improve access to sanitary products and shed stigmas about menstruation by attempting to help end Chhaupadi, a common practice in parts of Nepal that isolates women and girls who are menstruating and forces them to live in sheds or huts because they are considered “impure” during that time.

Read more about Sharma’s project in this Penn State Medicine article.

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