By Malek Appiah Affum, CRI
World Menstrual Hygiene Day was marked in the Wassa East District Capital of Sekyere Heman during which Child Rights International (CRI), Hurds Foundation, and the Assemblyman for Sekyere Heman Electoral Area donated 300 Sanitary pads to girls in the district. The donation by CRI is part of an ongoing project “#FreeSanitaryPads”, under which the NGO is supporting school girls with free sanitary pads so they will stay in school during their periods.
CRI’s participation in the occasion was the second consecutive year it is collaborating with the Wassa East Education Directorate in marking the World Menstrual Hygiene Day which was under the theme “Breaking the Silence around Period”. The day is celebrated annually on May 28th to create awareness about the challenges girls face during menstruation and to promote menstrual hygiene management practices.
Activities for the day were heralded with a march through the streets by school girls and teachers holding placards with inscriptions such as Menstruation is Not a Taboo; Parents, Talk Menstruation with your Girl Child; Stakeholders Invest in Menstruation with Free Sanitary Pads, Menstruation is not a disease; Girl Child, Menstruation Does Not Mean Absenteeism; Stakeholders, Provide Changing Rooms in Schools, Menstruation is a Natural Phenomenon and among others.
The Guest Speaker was Miss Mavis Adaniku, Senior Nurse in Charge of the Heman Community Health Center.
About the Campaign
The #FreeSanitaryPad campaign by CRI is an advocacy effort aimed at shedding light on the issues of menstruation among school-going girls and how it is preventing the education of girls, the social-economic impact it has on the country, how we fall short of the attainments of SDGs 4, 5 and 6 in our inability to properly tackle issues connected to Menstrual Hygiene Management and finally gather statistics on how many girls are affected by this issue and how it can be effectively tackled.
The essence of the campaign is to provide adequate education on menstruation and how to properly take care of one’s self during the period. Our target group is girls aged 10-17 years in rural communities in Ghana. The promotion of menstrual hygiene for girls also includes men and boys in the discussion for a better understanding of menstrual issues to help reduce the stigma associated with menstruation.
Our effort is ultimately geared towards pushing the government to consider formulating policies on the provision of free sanitary pads to girls in our target group to alleviate the situation.