An Ebonyi State-based Civil Society Organisation, Ebonyi Women and Girls Rights Advocates, has drawn the attention of government and parents to the need to invest in the menstrual hygiene of women and the girl child.
The advocacy was part of the organisation’s one-day school sensitization tour on sexual and reproductive health rights, sexual and gender-based violence held on Friday in commemoration of this year’s World Menstrual Hygiene day.
The event was organised in collaboration with the USAID-Integrated Health Programme, Ebonyi State; Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, Ebonyi State Council; and Youthhub Africa.
It brought together resource persons who educated the children in the visited schools on menstrual hygiene, girl child education, sexual rights and prevention of various kinds of Gender-Based violence.
The event also featured the distribution of free menstrual sanitary pads to selected female students in all the schools visited by the group.
Schools visited by the group were Abakaliki High School, Great Minds Academy and Nnodo Secondary school, all in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
Addressing journalists, the State Coordinator of Ebonyi Women and Girls Rights Advocates, Lorieth Nwafor, explained that the Organisation is the brain child of Youth Hub Africa.
She noted that the schools sensitisation tour was part of its advocacy as contained in its mandate against all forms of gender-based violence and the advancement of the rights and welfare of women and the girl-child.
Nwafor explained: “EWOGRA is involved in anything that has to do with Rights of the woman and the girl-child.
“We do not have limits; we do a lot of things, including empowerment, skill acquisition.
“We believe that if you have an empowered woman, this issue of violence against women will stop.”
On menstrual hygiene of the girl-children, Nwafor emphasized: “We discovered that most parents do not have personal relationship with their children, and that’s where the gap come from.
“Children need to get firsthand information from their parents because if they get it from elsewhere, it could be distorted and deceiving.
:”My advise to parents is that they should bring their children, both girls and boys close, make them friends; make them free to talk to them, so that they can unbutton themselves with their challenges before their parents.
“And for government, there is need for government to make the environment conducive and enabling: create job opportunities, and ensure strict implementation of all laws against gender violence such as the Ebonyi State Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law.”
In separate interviews, the State NAWOJ Chairperson, Nkechinyere Oginyi, and the Gender Inclusion and Community Engagement Advisor for IHP in the State, Emilia Okon, identified poverty and ignorance as factors militating against the menstrual hygiene of most girls and women, and called for collective effort towards the fight against poverty.
Okon said: “Today is World Menstrual Hygiene Day.
“It is a day we globally bring attention to the issue of menstrual hygiene.
“One of the popular things we know is what is called menstrual poverty and we really want to do everything we can to reduce the effect it has on young girls in society.
“In Nigeria these days, as you know, buying one Sanitary Pad is costing about N1,500, and it is very expensive for a child, especially in the rural areas.
“So, we are drawing attention of everybody around us, even the government, to first of all remove the taxes on menstrual products in order to lower cost.
“They should also invest on producing what we call the reusable sanitary towels, which you can use more than once over a period of six months and one year, so that it can be available and affordable to young women, especially in rural areas.”
Elaborating further, the NAWOJ boss, Oginyi, emphasised that the joint sensitisation was necessitated by the need to lead the girls out of ignorance regarding the management of their menstrual flow.
She regretted that poverty could make the girl-child use unhygienic materials like Toilet tissues, pieces of clothes and rags to control her menstrual flow, which could lead to serious infections and diseases.
She further advocated for inclusion of menstrual hygiene in the schools curriculum, assuring that the NAWOJ in the State would soon unveil its full programme against gender-based violence and other challenges of the women and the girl-children.
She added: We decided to join in this sensitization today because it is very necessary going by the fact that menstrual hygiene is not officially included in the schools curriculum.
“It is very important that government invest in menstrual hygiene because it will have a multiplier effect on girl-child education and health.
“Some of our girls, because they do not have the money to buy sanitary pads, could be lured by men in a bid to get money for the pad during their flow.”
Oginyi called for more partners in the fight for the rights and wellbeing of the women and the girl-child.
World Menstrual hygiene day is observed on May 28 every year.
The theme for this year’s celebration is: “Need to Step Up Action and Investment in Menstrual Health Now.”