Young girls on their periods are taking time off from school because they can't afford to buy sanitary products, such as tampons and pads.

The discovery was made by staff at the charity Freedom4Girls, which provides sanitary products to women in Kenya, after a school in Leeds contacted them about the issue.

Tina Leslie, a public health worker in Leeds and member of Freedom4Girls, told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour she “wasn’t shocked at all”.

"We had an idea that there was something happening in schools. It's linked to poverty - 25,000 visits to food banks just in Leeds last year,” she said.

"We need to give these girls their dignity back."

Girls in the UK are missing school because they can't afford to buy tampons