TenderTide

According to a study, 84.1% of women reported menstrual pain with 43.1% reporting that it occurred during every period. There are about 781 million women who suffer pain severe enough to interfere with daily activities (dysmenorrhea) and one in four women experience heavy menstrual bleeding. At least one in four women experiences distressing menstrual pain characterized by a need for medication and absenteeism from study or social activities. However, an estimated 1 in 5 people with period pain don't get relief from existing treatments. Existing treatments are inefficient, inconvenient and didn't solve social stigma. Hot-water bottles are inconvenient, and take time to work, while pain relievers have a lot of side effects, which are not good for overall health in the long run. The existing treatments also didn't remove the stigma about menstruation. In many countries, such as Vietnam, menstruation still has a lot of stigma and women don't have a lot of knowledge about dealing with their menstrual pain. 

TenderTide is a kit with botanical-extract chewing gum that can heal pain efficiently in a convenient way and a box of cards tells women how to protect, love and care for themselves over their period. By applying the knowledge of using medicinal herbs in Vietnam's traditional medicine and using cold-compression technology to maintain the ingredients, the gum can heal pain in a gentle and efficient way, helping people who suffer from pain can work, and study without any obstacles. The box of cards is designed with the aim to educate young women to learn how to protect and take care of themselves before, during and after the period, which is still a stigma in some developing countries, such as Vietnam. 

TenderTide wants to help women all around the world, especially young females who live in developing countries. There are 3,905 million females in the world, and in Vietnam, there are 7 million females aged 15-24 years old. 

At present, women in Vietnam often don't know how to deal with their menstrual pain, which leads to absenteeism in schools and workplaces. They use pain relievers, sometimes in the wrong way which leads to a lot of problems for health in the long run. And not only in Vietnam, in all over the world, menstrual pain didn't receive enough attention and solutions. People often think it is small stuff, but the data tells more, menstrual pain is annoying and affects people's quality of life. 

TenderTide can help women solve their problems with a cost-efficient product, making it accessible and convenient for everyone. It also erases the social stigma by providing user-friendly products, which makes people think about chewing gum and game cards. Using TenderTide, the period is just tender like ordinary days. 

As a young female born and living in Vietnam, a developing country, I understand very well the problems other women have to face with their period pain. I have seen a lot of women, who are my friends, my sisters, and my mother, experience severe pain but really don't know what to do. It affects their study at school and affects their quality of life, and their productivity at work. While talking with Phuong, my friend who is living in the US, I understand more about the problems happening all around the world. Therefore, I connect with Linh, who is a senior student studying medicine and Phuong, a PhD chemical engineering to research and find a solution for this problem. We surveyed 312 women in Vietnam and US, and we also took deep interviews to understand more about their insight. We are happy that our journey has received a lot of support from the advisors, who are postdocs at Vietnam universities and doctors. We know that our solution is doing the right things as a lot of females say that they need a product like this and really ready to try one. Their feedbacks make us more confident, and we also develop the product after listening to the feedback. The box of cards is designed by a recommendation of a teenager who suffers from pain but doesn't know what to do. 

Until now, as we are developing and testing the prototypes, there are about 20 people who have used our product. The feedbacks of them are great and we are expanding more. 

First, we want to receive funding to make the product more develop and reach out to more people to help more and more women in need. 

Second, we want to help advise and support a lot of impactful leaders, which makes us grow a lot. 

Third, we want to gain exposure in media and conferences, which is important as we want our solution can help women not only in Vietnam, our country but all around the world.