Midwife distributes free sanitary pads to 200 adolescent girls in Commemoration of Menstrual Hygiene Day

More than 200 school children in four communities in the Karaga District of the Northern Region have benefited from the distribution of free sanitary pads in an effort aimed at helping adolescent girls to improve their menstrual hygiene.

A midwife with the Tamaligu CHPS, Haleefa Bint Yussif, carried out the initiative in commemoration of World Menstrual Hygiene Day with support from benevolent individuals including Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Member of Parliament for the Karaga constituency.

The girls, drawn from Tamaligu, Zankali, Bagurugu and Nyong Zones received products that could last them for three months and were also sensitised and given practical education on their sexual and reproductive health, dangers of forced and early marriages, teenage pregnancy and on how to properly use and discard sanitary pads to avoid infections.

Ms. Haleefa in an interview said the decision to distribute the sanitary wares was informed by her first-hand experience and encounters with adolescent girls as a health practitioner in rural Ghana for nearly a decade.



She disclosed that school absenteeism has increased as many girls have been forced to stay home during their periods because of their inability to afford sanitary products. Others, she said have had to indulge in negative practices including trading sex for monetary favours from men to enable them afford pads.

She added that many times she has had to give out sanitary products she bought for her own use to young girls who are faced with period poverty but do not want to engage in negative activities like their colleagues to afford sanitary products.

Haleefa, the in-charge of the Tamaligu CHPS, who intends to make her gesture an annual affair, expressed profound gratitude to her donors, especially Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam for supporting her initiative.

Menstrual Hygiene Day is an annual awareness day commemorated each year on May 28 to highlight the importance of good menstrual hygiene practices.

It was initiated by the German-based NGO WASH United in 2013 and observed for the first time in 2014.

The theme for this year is, "Making menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030."
By: Iddrisu Zakaria Baba