WHAT: Saturday May 28th every year is celebrated as “menstrual hygiene day”. It is a day set aside to raise awareness about the importance of good menstrual hygiene management for women and adolescent girls worldwide.
Theme: The theme for 2016 is “Menstruation matters to everyone, everywhere
WHY: The aim is to create a world in which every woman and girl can manage her menstruation in a hygienic way in privacy, safety and dignity. It is also to break the silence and build awareness about the fundamental role that good menstrual management plays in enabling women and girls to reach their full potential. A lack of adequate menstrual hygiene management denies women and girls their right to education, right to health and right to work in favorable conditions.
What makes the intervention important?
Keeping girls in school longer matters – UNESCO showed that every additional year that girls can spend in school will reduce the infant mortality by 5 to 10%
Yet in Ghana, dropout rates for girls are 7% higher than boys by the end of junior high school
About 95% of menstruating girls in Ghana miss school days during their period[1]
Even though girls require privacy and water to maintain hygiene during their menses, only 2 in 5 schools in Ghana have water supplies and only 3 in 5 schools have toilets[2]. Many of those that have such facilities do not have changing rooms suitable for menstruating girls.
A recent UNICEF Ghana research report indicates that many girls are unable to afford hygiene materials such as sanitary pads to manage their menstruation. These and several other factors combine to keep girls out of school during their period.
Way forward
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Formal school and informal family and social teaching on menstruation that discusses the local context of taboos, prohibitions and myths will help girls better understand how to manage menstruation. It is also important for boys and men in the community to better understand menstruation to help break down some of the myths, taboos and prejudices
Greater priority is required from government, civil society and development partners to provide the necessary political, institutional and financial commitments to ensure that all schools in Ghana have access to adequate water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, and gender-friendly facilities with changing rooms to enable girls to be able to change themselves in dignity during school hours.
[1] Menstrual Hygiene Matters (WaterAid, 2012)
[2] Education Management Information System 2014/2015, Ghana Education Service (2015)
Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Source: Apo-Opa
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