Girls in basic school in the Ho West and adjoining districts of the Volta Region are being supported with sanitary pads to ensure menstrual hygiene.
Schools in Dzolo Gbogame, Kpedze, Akoviefe and Aflakpe communities received free sanitary pads during a weeklong distribution and menstrual education exercise to mark the World Menstrual Hygiene Day.
The Mawauadek Foundation, a non-profit organisation, formed in 2018 to support needy students, had since taken up the challenge to ensure girls in basic school are period secure.
Mawufemor Adekpuitor, Founder of Mawuadek, at a sensitisation programme for schools in the Dzolo areas, held at the St Anthony’s Basic School in Dzolo Gbogame, said it sought to end stigma and the disruptions in school activities for most girls during the monthly menstrual cycle.
He said the Foundation was sustaining the exercise as an annual event and needed support from benevolent individuals and organisations.
Madam Edna Mortey, Founder of Women in Technical Education, who represented the District Director of Education, said mensuration had become a conduit for discrimination against girls, and encouraged them not to let anything discourage them in managing the life cycle.
‘You should not run away from your own shadow,’ she said, and commended the Foundation for its support to ensure total acceptance of the biological system.
Madam Mortey called for care and love for the girls to be able to withstand the often-complicated cycle.
‘It is part of us. That is what we are. So, we are pleading with all stakeholders to accept that menstruation is part of life. It has been with us since Adam and we should stop pushing or frustrating them in their periods. We should accept them and help them go through easily,’ she said.
She appealed for more improved sanitary facilities in schools as well as pads for the girls to aid the proper management of their periods.
Madam Peace Yaa Kudzorwu, School Health Education Programme Officer, Ho West Education Office, said limited information on periods caused ignorance and stigma, and therefore sustained education on mensuration remained crucial to building confidence and ending misconceptions.
She encouraged the girls to nurture confidence through the cycle, saying it remained a lifelong experience that must be endured.
‘As a woman, be proud, be happy. Be excited to go through this period. Manage your period with pride and be encouraged that the future of this country is in your womb.’
Health workers in the district educated the girls on care for the menstrual organs, personal hygiene, and disposal of used sanitary materials.
Mr Matthew Asigbey, Senior House Master of the Dzolo Senior High School, who chaired the programme, said menstruation was a sign of fertility and must be embraced and urged the organisers to extend the education senior high schools.
The school children took the opportunity to ask relevant questions and thanked the Foundation for providing the support and opportunity.
Source: Ghana News Agency