Advancing and Harnessing Opportunities for Youth (AHOY) Africa and The Orange Girl Foundation have donated sanitary materials to students of the Bremang-Jukwa Catholic School in the Central Region, as part of their effort to end menstrual period poverty and promote good hygiene among girls.
The two donated menstrual cups and cloth pads to the girls in the community who are missing school due to period poverty.
According to the group, access to menstrual hygiene products has become a big challenge in the community, affecting girls’ education; therefore, there is a need to tackle the issue amicably.
Team lead, Nana Yaa Amoako Baffoe noted that: “Girls in the community resort to various means, including sleeping with visitors who come into the communities for funerals and other purposes for as little as GH¢20 to enable them to afford basic things such as sanitary pads. Some of the parents take the girls to nearby hospitals for family planning methods to protect them from their mini-hookup services. This is disheartening and quite disturbing because their education and health are at risk”.
She said it is the situation at hand that has motivated their intervention, citing that their consistent efforts have yielded great results in the community.
“We decided to go back to the community to measure our progress, and it has been refreshing. I am excited about the new development, and I am hopeful it will remain the same till the next time we return. when they last visited them in 2021, the school had recorded five teenage pregnancy cases, but after their intervention, there has not been any record of teenage pregnancy from 2022 to 2023,” she pointed out.
She added that there’s a need to tackle menstrual health issues, particularly the sex for pad concerns, which has become a hindrance to girls’ education.
Access to menstrual products, menstrual change rooms, and proper disposable systems are major challenges many girls in the country face in their quest to manage their period.
