A development organisation, Global Communities (GC) has commemorated this year’s Menstrual Hygiene Day (MHD) with a call on traditional authorities to abolish cultural practices that serve as barriers against the social inclusion of young women and girls during menstruation.
It said menstruation, a pre-requisite for childbirth, is a natural phenomenon in females and that menstruating women should be treated with the utmost divinity and respect they deserve.
Alberto Wilde, the country director of GC, made the call in a speech read on his behalf by Martin Sumbo, the Upper West regional coordinator of GC, during an event to mark the MHD in Wa with a focus on making menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030.
GC has embarked on a week-long series of activities in the region including radio talk shows led by children from selected basic schools in Wa, in-school sensitisation and a route march to create awareness on the need to prioritise menstrual hygiene.
Sumbo said, “Due to inadequate awareness and information about menstruation and its management, it has been associated with negativity, shame, filth and taboo….
“Some of our cultural practices have led to barriers around menstruation. This has resulted in some women and girls isolating themselves, missing school or work and even being excluded from taking part in certain activities in society.”
The regional coordinator observed that young women and girls have difficulty accessing clean menstrual hygiene materials and private changing rooms in school or at home.
He said as part of efforts to reduce those challenges, GC has partnered with Be-Girl and the Ghana Education Service to implement holistic menstrual health management (MHM) interventions for school children, their parents and caregivers in target schools.
Sumbo has encouraged the government and civil society to promote good MHM by responding to the menstrual hygiene needs of young women and girls.
Dimah Nandzo, the Wa municipal director of education, said the many challenges associated with menstruation such as access to pads, the privacy to change when in school and stigmatisation keep some girls out of school during their menstrual periods.
She added that despite the many menstrual hygiene education for girls at home and in school, some girls still have challenges with their menstruation because “our system is not equipped well enough to take care of menstrual hygiene management efficiently.”
She said, “As a result of these challenges, we have some females refusing to come to school when they are menstruating… and in their absence lessons are taught which will not be repeated. It affects their learning outcomes.”
Nandzo said it is unfortunate that some girls drop out of school because of these challenges, while others enter relationships with men to get sanitary pads.
She advocated a supportive environment in schools where girls are able to manage their period without feeling embarrassed, stressing the need for clean water and soap.
She appealed to the government to create pad banks in schools to support girls who genuinely cannot afford sanitary pads.
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