Voices is the Dorset Echo's weekly youth page, written for young people by young people. If you would like to write an article for Voices, please email alex.cutler@dorsetecho.co.uk for more information.

A person is bleeding. Cascading crimson falls to the floor. They have no bandage, no products and no medical assistants. They are blotting with only newspaper. This is no movie set, where the war hero strives on despite a gashing injury. It is real.

She is on her period.

Now you are embarrassed. But, for all too many girls period poverty is terrifyingly real, each new month arriving with dread.

The main reason for this issue? Our embarrassment. Your blush when you read the word ‘period’ and lack of speech on the subject.

Consider this: half of our population menstruates every month, and the other half are fully aware that it happens. It’s time we all just got over our awkwardness and provided the help that young girls desperately need.

49 per cent of girls in the UK have missed school because they are on their period. One in ten girls aged 14-21 can’t afford menstrual products.

These are staggering statistics, embarrassing as they relate to a ‘developed’ country. They are not just numbers, though. They are faces, futures, hopes and dreams that are jeopardised due to a natural human function. Something has to be done.

Companies such as Tesco have dropped a so-called ‘tampon tax’, but sanitary products are still classed as ‘luxury goods’. This is ridiculous. Food is not classed as a luxury but we all still have to eat. Water is not a luxurious commodity yet we all get thirsty. A girl menstruates – not from choice – but because it is how her body naturally works. Coping with that is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.

Luckily there are things we can all do to stop period poverty in its tracks. The Red Box is a project where communities can donate sanitary products to specific collection points, which in turn are delivered to local schools. This means that girls do not have to let period poverty prevent their chance of an education and a good future.

Right now, a person is bleeding. Help.

By Becca Seb