Half of the population menstruates, but in the past year alone two in five menstruators have struggled to purchase period products. That's according to the Alliance for Period Supplies.

This is called period poverty, and it’s a problem that’s prevalent here in Milwaukee as well as around the country. The inability to afford or access period products means missing work, school and other outings that impact a person’s health and quality of life.

May 23-29 is Period Poverty Awareness Week, and locally, the Milwaukee Diaper Mission is doing its part to help address this issue. On top of diapers, the organization also supplies about 12,000 period products a month.

"People should have equal access to the products that they need to feel clean, dry and healthy. I think ... this is a serious public health crisis, truthfully," says Milwaukee Diaper Mission Executive Director Meagan Johnson.

Johnson notes that period products are taxed like a luxury good, despite being a necessity for people with periods. In addition to the cost of period products, there's also a stigma built around menstruation and access to periods products, so oftentimes people feel hesitant to ask for assistance.

This lack of access can lead to people resorting to using household products such as socks, toilet paper, newspaper or cardboard to absorb blood during their period. "Unfortunately these items are not sanitary, and when people aren't using sanitary products to keep themselves clean during menstruation that can lead to infection," she explains.

In honor of Period Poverty Awareness Week, the Milwaukee Diaper Mission held an event on Monday to package around 500 period kits — both disposable and reusable products. The organization works closely with social service agencies, such as food pantries and home visiting agencies, to distribute the period kits to those in need.

"We believe really strongly in dignity of choice and making sure that people have access to every option available," Johnson notes. "People have really strong preferences when it comes to the product they use for menstruation and so we want to make sure we're offering several different options and also in several different absorbencies."

The Milwaukee Diaper Mission also works with local high school students to not only raise awareness about period poverty and collect products to distribute, but encourage talking openly about menstruation as a normal part of day-to-day life.

"It should be something that we're talking about regularly," she says. "Small organization like ours are doing the best we can to address period poverty, but I think that more needs to happen in order to make significant change in this space."