Period poverty: Freedom4Girls' Tina Leslie appointed MBE

Tina Leslie, who founded the Freedom4Girls charity, collected the honour from the King at Windsor Castle

A campaigner has been appointed MBE for services to tackling period poverty in the United Kingdom and overseas.

Tina Leslie, from Leeds, founded the Freedom4Girls charity in 2016 to improve access to sanitary products for women both domestically and in Africa.

The 58-year-old collected the honour from the King at Windsor Castle earlier.

She described it as a "great accolade" but said it was "quite sad" her charity was still required.

"[This] is an issue that is increasing because of the cost of living crisis," she said. "There are so many people who can't afford food, and if you can't afford food then you can't afford period products."

The charity campaigner was recognised in the Queen Elizabeth II's Jubilee Birthday Honours and was invited to the late monarch's funeral.

Ms Leslie said she started her work in Kenya in 2015 and later brought it to the UK after she found out schoolgirls were missing classes because of their periods.

"For me to be recognised is a great accolade and a great honour, but it is quite sad that we have to be here as a period poverty charity and that we have to be campaigning to get products to people who need them," she said.

She said some older people still find it "a taboo subject to talk abut periods" and improving education around the topic was "important from quite a young age because then it will stop that stigma".

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