The certificate, signed by the late Queen Elizabeth II as the head of the Commonwealth before her recent passing, made the award even more special to Anja Juliah who taught girls in rural communities about menstrual health.

“This award came as an absolute surprise. Exactly 10 years ago, I started teaching girls in rural Borneo about menstruation and sponsoring washable sanitary pads for them.

“As a result, the girls did not have to be absent from school and realised education is their pathway to a better life,” she told a press conference after receiving the award from British High Commissioner Charles Hay at his residence here.

Anja Juliah, through her social enterprise, embarked on a quest to address the issue of absentees among Malaysian girls in rural communities after discovering that thousands of girls miss an average of 60 days of school a year due to lack of menstrual knowledge.

She said her effort in providing reusable sanitary pads had enabled the girls to continue their studies comfortably besides reducing the number of single-use sanitary pads going into landfills.

Meanwhile, Hay, in commending Anja Juliah’s efforts, said she had helped to ensure girls in rural communities remained in schools and get the basic education they needed.

The Commonwealth Points of Light award programme was launched in the UK in 2018 when it chaired the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Prior to Anja Juliah, four other Malaysians had received the Commonwealth Points of Light award since 2018, including philanthropist Kuan Chee Heng, who is popularly known as Uncle Kentang.