The Development Bank Ghana (DBG) has distributed a total of 10,000 sanitary pads to school girls in Senior High Schools (SHSs) across four regions in the country.
The beneficiary students were drawn from senior high schools in the Northern, Upper East, Ashanti and Greater Accra regions.
The gesture by the bank, which formed part of activities commemorating this year’s World Menstrual Hygiene Day, also provided them with the opportunity to educate the students on the need to maintain proper personal hygiene during their menstrual period.
The Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, the DBG, Barbara Anawonu Wriketts, led a team to distribute some of the pads to school girls at the Tepa SHS in the Ashanti Region.
According to her, if young girls and women were empowered adequately, it could lead to sustainable development, adding that “providing young girls the needed education about their menstrual cycle would enable them to avoid acts that could derail their future”.
She stated that menstruation was not just a health issue, but it was linked to the education of girls as well and added that there was a need to keep girls in school during their period through the provision of sanitary towels and proper changing rooms.
Unacceptable
She mentioned that it was unacceptable for young girls, especially those in hard-to-reach communities, to skip school anytime they were in their menstrual period, saying “we need to ensure that girls are always confident and ready to attend school during their period”.
“Girls staying out of school for every month will have negative consequences on their academic pursuits.
We must demystify the myth about menstruation to encourage girls to be regular in school, while menstruating,” she said.
Further, the girls were advised to maintain proper hygiene during their menstrual period and to avoid intimate sexual relationships, as these could jeopardise their lives.
Background
For her part, the Senior Housemistress of the Tepa SHS, Helen Baffoe Adentwi, indicated that due to some students' backgrounds, they had not received sufficient education on menstrual hygiene and related issues.
She mentioned that due to stigma, some girls sometimes dodged classes during their menstrual period, saying, “others also skip lessons due to the abdominal pains associated with it”.
She commended the government for introducing free sanitary pads for girls, as it had put smiles on their faces, stressing that “hitherto, some of the girls use toilet roll during their menses, which is not hygienic”.
Further, she lauded the DBG for its gesture towards the girls in the school and called on all stakeholders to join efforts to safeguard the future of girls, enabling them to grow and contribute to national development.
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