Irene Whittaker-Cumming

Irene Whittaker-Cumming

Irene Whittaker-Cumming is Executive Director of Mother Nature Partnership, an organization that empowers women and girls to live their lives to the fullest by providing access to menstrual health care. She is a communications consultant in the women’s health sector, and a published author and photographer. Irene is the recipient of a Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel Innovation Award and a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grant.

The start of menarche signals the exciting transition to womanhood. But for girls in Central Africa, it can also mark a new period of isolation and fear.