The Assembly Member for the Nintin Electoral Area, Nicholas Osei-Wusu, in partnership with Sunda International, dealers in sanitary products, has organised separate fora for basic school pupils at Nintin and Hwidiem Electoral Area.
The beneficiary girls were from the Roman Catholic Primary, Presby Primary and Junior High and M/A Junior High Schools at Nintin, as well as their counterparts from the Hwidiem M/A Primary and JHS.
At the fora at Nintin and Hwidiem, nurses and midwives took the girls through a practical demonstration of the most appropriate way of wearing and disposing of sanitary towels, how to keep personal and environmental hygiene and sanitation during the monthly period.
The girls and the female teachers from all the schools received a package containing sanitary pads that could last them a minimum of two monthly cycles, as well as washing powder to keep them hygienic and healthy.
They also received a copy of a handbook on ‘Hygiene and Sanitation’, with extra copies donated to the schools as teaching and learning material.
Mr Osei-Wusu thanked Sunda International for the partnership and called on government to, as a social intervention, waive off entirely the tax component of the prices of menstrual pads, to make it affordable for pupils and students.
A Senior Staff Midwife of the Ghana Health Service, Madam Charity Azaare, a resource person, called for increased public education on menstruation and its hygiene and health-related issues for everybody, especially parents, to support their daughters during that stage.
Meanwhile, a retired educationist, Nana Adu Asare, has appealed to the government to consider free distribution of sanitary pads and related materials to adolescent school girls as a major social intervention to encourage basic and second cycle schools’ enrolment, particularly in the rural communities across the country.
He explained that, the prevailing socio-economic difficulties being faced by parents of such children makes it challenging to cater for sanitary pads, which are essential for them to ensure personal and environmental hygiene, as well as boost their self-confidence while remaining in schools throughout their menstrual periods.
Nana Adu Asare, who is also the head of the Nintin Royal Family, made the appeal at Nintin in the Mampong Municipality during a forum to commemorate this year’s ‘World Menstrual Hygiene Day.’
Nana Adu Asare described the initiative as historic and exemplary since it was the first time such an initiative has been seen in the area.
According to the retired educationist, inadequate information about menstruation has had various socio-economic and educational consequences on the girls, school attendance, hygiene and environmental sanitation over the years.
He urged teachers to develop the deepest understanding of their adolescent girl pupils during the monthly periods.
