Menstruation: AHF Urges For Better Deal For Girls

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is cautioning Nigerians on discrimination against women, especially girls due to menstruation. The organisation is urging for the government and relevant stakeholders to provide adequate sanitary facilities and free products for the promotion of menstrual hygiene in Nigeria.

Menstrual Health Day was first launched in 2014 so as to highlight the importance of menstrual health management education which can empower persons who menstruate to be able to fully participate in the society and live a healthy and self-determined life.

According to the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA), the 28th of May signifies the menstrual cycles of females, since the fertility period lasts for 28 days as well as the way an average period lasts for five days, authenticating the May date. Henceforth, the 28th of May is celebrated to mark the change that occurs in a female body.

This year’s theme, ‘Making menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030,’ is to build a world where no girl is without safety supplies, easy access to sanitary products and menstruation a normal subject, which could be discussed publicly.

Read Also: Menstrual Health Day To Be Commemorated By AHF Nigeria

Steve Aborisade, the AHF’s Marketing Manager in Nigeria, made the call during a statement this weekend to commemorate this year’s Menstrual Hygiene Day (MHD) and said that out of the 1.8 billion people that menstruate globally, 500 million are denied access to safe facilities and sanitary products that provide healthy ways to manage their periods.

Dr. Echey Ijezie, AHF Nigeria’s Country Programme Director, pointed out that as governments loosen COVID-19 restrictions worldwide, individuals, who menstruate, have to return to their various endeavours while also attempting to manage their periods.

On the other hand, during the weekend, PadUp Africa and Women in PENGASSAN, held a campaign to end menstruation poverty in schools. Both organisations shared hygiene products to students and educated both the male and female students.

Ashley Lori, the Executive Director of PadUp Africa, said that the exercise was to advocate for free renewable or disposable sanitary pads for girls to use so that they can remain in schools. She then implored for the Federal Government to ensure the availability of free sanitary pads in schools nationwide.