Free sanitary pads for Klagon JHS female students
Female students of the Klagon TMA Junior High School in the Tema Metropolis have been provided with 250 packs of free sanitary pads worth GH¢1500 from the PAJ Foundation to assist them to uphold good personal hygiene during their menstrual periods.
Ms Patience Ackon and Ms Jane Abubakar, presenting the items, explained that the gesture followed an encounter with a pupil of the school who had skipped school during her menstrual period and was found loitering due to her inability to buy pads.
Ms Ackon said after listening to the young girl and fearing that other female students could be faced with the same challenge and skip school during menstruation, she discussed the issue with some friends who readily came together to procure the sanitary pads for distribution to the students.
She said the aim was to empower the girls to remain in school so that they can benefit from their education.
She said the foundation, in the long-term, was looking forward to partner manufacturers of sanitary pads so as to be able to distribute pads to girls in deprived communities in the metropolis.
Ms Jane Abubakar, a Co-Founder of the foundation, said the intervention was one of many projects earmarked for basic schools in the metropolis.
She said they were looking forward to partnerships with other stakeholders to extend the programme to other schools.
Apart from the free distribution of the sanitary pads to students, the foundation also engaged a Public Health Nurse, Ms Augustina Pambim, as a resource person to educate the students on how to uphold personal hygiene during menstruation, as well as its importance.
Ms Pambim explained that because some young girls, especially those in deprived communities could not afford to buy sanitary pads, they resorted to the use of tattered cloths, rags or cotton wool during menstruation.
She observed that because some of the girls used materials which were not clean as pads, they end up with various infections.
Ms Pambim educated the pupils on how to use the sanitary pads and other materials and how to dispose them of hygienically.
The Headmistress of the Klagon TMA JHS, Ms Olivia Mawusi Soglo commended the foundation for the intervention, noting that such initiatives were very important in enhancing good health.
