Africa-Press – Uganda. While Menstrual Hygiene Management education has over the years targeted the girl child with emphasis on the use of the sanitary pads, a section of the public now demand a more inclusive sensitization to include the boys and the parents.
Ms Alice Gwoyenda, a Menstrual Hygiene management consultant believes that cases of girl children getting bullied by the boys and parents that fail to open up and help the girl child access the sanitary pads expose many girls to risks of dropping out of school and psychological torture.
“We have heard from the girls, the different testimonies were many get scared because of the bullying from the boys and several where their respective guardians fail to help them access the sanitary pads. We should consider a more inclusive Menstrual Hygiene Management strategy where the boys and parents get to know what happens and how they can appreciate the condition as normal,” she says.
Mr Moses Turyatemba, the incoming Rotary Club of Kololo President believes that the stigma of mentioning menstruation and the myths that society holds can only be overcome through a more inclusive and deliberate sensitization of the different stakeholders.
“It is unfortunate that some of our girl children keep struggling and often get bullied by the boys while many are from families that are poverty-stricken and fail to avail the sanitary pads. Menstrual hygiene should be discussed and solutions established. This partly explains the intervention by the Rotary Club of Kololo to facilitate girl children in selected schools with the reusable sanitary pads,” he said.
The campaign, a partnership with Yimba Uganda where the stakeholders are reaching out to the girl children to supply the reusable sanitary pads, is part of the wider call for an inclusive awareness programme to help the girl child remain at school comfortably.
“Menstrual hygiene management has been a big challenge to many girls that cannot afford the sanitary pads,” Turyatemba adds.
Over five hundred girls from different schools in Luweero District gathered at Sunbeams Primary School in Kalagala Sub County, Luweero District for Menstrual Hygiene Management education and received packs of the reusable sanitary pads that have a three-year lifespan.
Mr Emmanuel Edwin Kusasira, the Director Yimba Uganda believes that continued engagement and a deliberate campaign to have menstrual hygiene management lessons made inclusive targeting the boy child and the parents of the girls will help the girls stay in school, he said.
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