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Hardware intervention
Materials
Reliable access to appropriate menstrual materials and supportive supplies. Pads on a Roll can address one part of this layer by placing individually wrapped pads inside the toilet unit.
Satellite Industries × Egal · European disaster response
Build dignity into emergency sanitation.
When floods, wildfires, storms, displacement, or infrastructure failures make temporary toilets essential, menstrual hygiene access should be part of the sanitation plan—not an afterthought.
The overlooked WASH requirement
A toilet is not fully response-ready if people cannot manage menstruation safely and privately.
Water, sanitation, and hygiene—WASH—is a core sector of humanitarian response. Menstrual hygiene management, or MHM, sits within that work and also crosses protection, health, shelter, education, logistics, and camp coordination.
A 2018 literature review covering 51 peer-reviewed and gray-literature sources found broad agreement on the ingredients of an effective response: appropriate menstrual materials, adequate sanitation infrastructure, education, consultation with affected populations, and monitoring and evaluation.
A complete MHM response connects products, facilities, and people. Pads on a Roll keeps individually wrapped pads available inside the private toilet unit, right where they are needed.
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Female-friendly WASH
Facilities
Safe, private sanitation with water, lighting, locks, space to change, and a practical waste-disposal pathway. Product access works best when the surrounding facility supports it.
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Software intervention
People and practice
Clear information, trained staff, culturally appropriate communication, beneficiary consultation, and feedback mechanisms throughout the response.
Prepared for a multi-hazard Europe
Different emergencies. The same need for dignified sanitation.
Europe’s response plans increasingly need to account for natural hazards, compound events, displacement, and extended recovery periods. A menstrual hygiene plan belongs anywhere portable sanitation is deployed.
Flooding and landslides
When homes and public infrastructure are damaged, temporary toilets and restroom trailers may serve displaced residents, volunteers, and response teams for weeks or months.
Wildfires and evacuations
Evacuation centres, responder bases, and temporary accommodation need sanitation that supports ordinary bodily needs during prolonged disruption.
Storms and infrastructure failure
Severe wind, coastal events, and utility outages can interrupt permanent washroom access and require sanitation units that are ready to deploy quickly.
Extreme weather
Heatwaves, cold emergencies, drought conditions, and compound hazards can create temporary sites for workers and affected communities.
Displacement and humanitarian reception
Transit points, reception centres, temporary settlements, and field facilities need privacy, hygiene materials, disposal planning, and dignified access.
Recovery and reconstruction
As schools, workplaces, housing, and civic buildings recover, temporary sanitation can remain in service long after the immediate emergency phase.
A practical addition to the sanitation package
Make menstrual materials as routine to stock as toilet paper.
Satellite customers already plan units, transport, consumables, cleaning, water, waste, and service frequency. Pads on a Roll adds a compact in-stall menstrual material system to that existing operating model.
A simple sanitation add-on
Offer menstrual product access alongside toilets, handwash stations, showers, trailers, consumables, and other emergency sanitation essentials.
Access at the point of need
The compact dispenser places pads inside the private toilet space rather than at a distant distribution desk or communal supply point.
Repeatable replenishment
Rolls fit a familiar service workflow, helping field teams check and restock menstrual supplies during routine sanitation rounds.
Dignity by design
In-stall access supports privacy and reduces the need for a person to publicly request a basic hygiene item during an already disruptive event.
From acute response to stabilization
Deploy quickly. Consult continuously. Improve as the response evolves.
Humanitarian guidance emphasizes context-specific design. The acute phase may require rapid action; stabilization creates more opportunity for beneficiary consultation, staff training, feedback, and program refinement.
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Assess the context
Identify who will use the facilities, the emergency phase, cultural preferences, accessibility needs, deployment duration, and available disposal systems.
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Specify the sanitation package
Include appropriate portable toilets or trailers, handwashing, lighting, locks, waste collection, and an in-stall menstrual material plan.
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Install and assign ownership
Place dispensers inside selected units and make pad-roll checks part of the named service team’s replenishment routine.
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Monitor and adapt
Track refills, ask users and field partners for feedback, and adjust placement, quantities, communications, and service frequency as conditions change.
Measure what matters.
Useful monitoring can include stock availability, refill frequency, functioning locks and disposal, user comfort, material acceptability, and whether women and girls meaningfully participated in placement and program decisions.
The commercial opportunity
Help customers specify dignity—not just toilets.
For portable sanitation operators, distributors, civil-protection suppliers, NGOs, municipalities, and relief contractors, menstrual access can become a defined line item in the emergency sanitation package.
- A stronger, more inclusive response specification
- A differentiated add-on for portable toilets and trailers
- A repeatable consumables and service conversation
- A practical way to support MHM within a broader WASH plan
Build a response-ready package
Add menstrual hygiene access to your next deployment.
Tell us where your customers operate, which units they deploy, and the types of emergency or recovery work they support. We’ll help map a practical in-stall product and replenishment plan.
- Recommended dispenser and roll quantities
- Placement guidance for toilets and trailers
- A service and replenishment framework
- Customer-facing language for a broader WASH package
Evidence and context
The page applies established humanitarian terminology without claiming that Pads on a Roll alone constitutes a complete MHM or WASH intervention. Product suitability should be assessed with affected populations and response partners in each context.