WINNIPEG - Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew says he wants to undo the harm that the current government's cuts to health care have done to women.

Kinew says he would hire more midwives, restore breastfeeding programs and provide free feminine hygiene products in schools if his party were to win the Sept. 10 election.

He says the demand for midwives exceeds the services funded by Brian Pallister's Progressive Conservative government -- especially in rural and northern areas.

Kinew says he would hire six more midwives in the first year of his term and restore lactation consultant programs the Tories cut at Winnipeg hospitals.

He says an NDP government would also require all schools to install dispensing machines in washrooms to provide free feminine hygiene products.

The government would cover the cost of purchasing and operating the machines.