Menstrual Health Day To Be Commemorated By AHF Nigeria

 

On the 28th of May, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF-Nigeria) will be with girl students at the School for the Deaf, Kuje and Deaf Girls Integrated in GSS Kuje, Abuja, in order to ensure inclusivity on Menstrual Health Day.

This is to enhance disability rights as the AHF Nigeria will highlight the importance of menstrual health management education for this marginalized group. The other purpose is to instigate efforts that will ensure that girls with a disability will not be left behind. Apart from giving the girls Menstrual Hygiene education, the AHF shall also provide them with free supplies of sanitary pads.

The AHF Nigeria will also be collaborating with the Ministry of Women Affairs in airing an educative jingle on both the Abuja and Benue state radio stations. This is to ensure the messages of menstrual hygiene can reach as many girls as possible.

‘’AHF Nigeria is committed to working with her partners and government as a sign of responsibility to strive and ensure that we make free sanitary pads available to young women and girls who can’t afford them. We acknowledge how the lack of access can increase the risks of HIV infection and how it disrupts their education, and to us this is unacceptable,” said Dr Echey Ijezie, AHF Nigeria Country Program Director.

 

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“As long as we allow stigma and taboos to exist around periods, people who menstruate will be labelled as ‘other’ and held back from reaching their full potential,” said Guillermina Alaniz, AHF Director of Global Advocacy and Policy. “A substantial percentage of the global population menstruates – and we owe it to them to ensure governments guarantee access to free or affordable hygiene products and adequate facilities for menstrual health management. It’s 2022, not 1922 – the time has come for the world to ‘End the Stigma’ around menstruation!”

As governments around the world loosen restrictions on COVID-19, menstruating women are returning to their various pursuits, while trying to manage their periods. In honor of Menstrual Health Day (MH Day), AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is working to #EndTheStigma for women and girls of reproductive age who experience periods!

Among the more than 1.8 billion people worldwide who menstruate, 500 million do not have access to safe facilities and sanitary products that provide healthy ways to manage their periods. Additionally, the shortages and inflation caused by COVID-19 have made purchasing hygiene products more difficult throughout the world.

Women and specifically girls who menstruate suffer hardships due to lack of access. This includes missing several days of school due to stigma and discrimination, being depressed because of stigma, and being at greater risk of infections due to using unsafe alternatives.