Dr. Wiafe Addai (middle), delivering her speech while Nana Awindor (left) looks on
GOVERNMENT HAS been urged to partner relevant stakeholders to provide free sanitary pads every month to adolescent girls in the Junior and Senior High Schools in Ghana.
Nana Hemaa Awindor, Executive Director of Obaapa Development Foundation (ODF) who said this implored government to consider providing free sanitary pads alongside the free meals in schools particularly those in the rural communities.
The ODF director who was speaking at the launch of free sanitary pads campaign for female students organized by the ODF in partnership with the World Vision International at Ejisu in the Ashanti Region on June 3, 2019, disclosed that most female students are being abused by males who provide for them.
“A lot of our girls are abused because somebody has to buy everything including sanitary pads and the moment they start buying, they ask for something in return and this is what we want to avoid,” the ambassador for menstrual health management said.
Speaking on the theme, “education about menstruation changes everything,” Nana Hemaa Awindor said the years when menstruation used to look like a taboo and unspoken about are over and called on people to give more information and education about it.
“Women menstruate from the ages of 9 to50 years before they become menopausal. So how come we have never taken this topic serious. The fact that you are a woman means you are going to be living with this situation for the rest of your life so it is time for us to bring this campaign,” she reiterated.
She disclosed that the ODF in collaboration with its partners have joined hands with Ghana Education Service, Ministry of Health and individuals who believe that girls should have free sanitary pads in schools, in the campaign.
On her part, the CEO of Breast Care International, Dr. Beatrice Wiafe Addai, who was the guest speaker lauded the ODF for initiating the ‘Free Sanitary Pads in schools’ and called on the government and other stakeholders to assist the needy female students in the provision of free sanitary pads.
“We wish that we take it as a national program to provide sanitary pads for those in the rural communities. Those in the cities, their parents can afford but those in the deprived areas we should go down to them and see how we can help them” Dr. Wiafe Addai added.
She said many girls will not develop pelvic inflammatory diseases and other infections if they learn to be hygienic during menstruation by not using cement papers and toilet rolls.
The Director of Health Service in the Ejisu/Juaben Municipality, Mrs. Josephine Ahorsu entreated women in general to use sanitary pads that are clean and hygienic to avoid infertilities in future.
She advised them to keep records of their menstruation and properly dispose of the used sanitary pads to promote environmental cleanliness.
Students from St. Louis SHS, Mancell Girls’ Vocational Institute and schools within the municipality as well as market women participated in the menstrual health education.
FROM James Quansah, Kumasi