Akwapim South school girls benefit from reusable pad initiative

All things being equal in the female reproductive system, one of the things that every growing up girl will experience is menstruation yet for most girls and women, menstruation is a big issue because of the associated shame, stigma and misinformation.

According to a report commissioned by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), shame, stigma and misinformation surrounding menstruation were contributing to serious human rights concerns for women and girls.

The report notes that as a result of menstruation, women and girls face stigma and ridicule that contribute to their exclusion from school and opportunities.

Aside from this hurdle of shame and stigma, this very normal aspect of the life of females, is also facing challenges such as lack of products, disposal facilities and being restricted from activities.

Thus, women who are the majority of the world’s population are being disadvantaged by their menstrual cycles in what is now known as “period poverty.”

In Ghana, ‘period poverty’ is said to be affecting some schoolage girls.

For instance, in the Akwapim South District of the Eastern Region, about 450 girls in junior high schools are said to be affected by ‘period poverty’.

The reusable pad initiative

Sometime in 2018 when the ladies of Soroptimist International Club of Accra learnt of the situation, they became alarmed.

Members were shocked to learn that the schooling of the young girls was being compromised because they lacked appropriate information about the changes taking place in their bodies during that stage in their lives and, therefore, could not properly handle what they were going through.

Consequently, upon formal request from the Education Directorate of the Akwapim South District Assembly and the Reproductive Health Education (RHE), Soroptimist International Club of Accra, in collaboration with Soroptimist Club of Benicia, California USA, and with support from Fan Milk Ghana Ltd, embarked on the Introduction of Reusable Sanitary Pads Project (IRSP).

The objectives of the IRSP are to provide increased knowledge on reproductive health to girls in junior high schools (JHS) of the Akwapim South District; improve the level of hygiene among the target group; reduce absenteeism and forestall possible dropouts among the target group; and provide an alternative to the regular sanitary pads which are expensive by introducing the reusable sanitary pads.

The implementation process

Reusable pads are actually not new. Remember how our mothers or grandmothers and even some of us used pieces of old cloth to catch the blood flow?

So as they changed, they washed the soiled clothes and dried in it in the sun for reuse.

They practised recycling and the fabrics were biodegradable.

So the Soroptimist Ladies decided to assist needy girls in their menstrual periods by repackaging and rebranding the use of pieces of cloth to catch menstrual flow.

The package consisted of two items – a pouch sewn from non-porous fabric and small towel-like napkins.

The napkins are folded and placed in the pouch and used just like disposable pads. It has flaps to hold it in place.

It is made in such a way that one cannot easily stain herself.

The only issue is, it has to be properly washed, sun dried and possibly even ironed for reuse.

The Soroptimists ladies contracted seamstresses to sew the cloth pads. These were arranged in a pack of six napkins, three pouches, and one piece of toilet soap in a small fabric bag at a cost of GH₵45 per bag.

The project implementation process was structured into four phases to cover the 34 JHS in the four school circuits in the Akwapim South Area, namely Aburi, Kitase, Pakro and Nsaba under the District Education Directorate.

According to the project report, each circuit had approximately 420 to 450 girls who constituted the target group for the project.

It was launched at Aburi on November 29, 2018 and the final phase was held on September 17, 2019 in the Nsaba Circuit.

Each programme entailed sensitisation to menstrual health care and hygiene, group discussions, sketches by the girls depicting menstrual hygiene-associated issues and then the distribution of the re-usable pads to identify needy school girls.

The resource persons included the coordinators of the Schools Health Environmental Programmes (SHEP) and girl-child coordinators. So far, over 500 needy girls have benefited from the reusable pad package at no cost.

Keeping selves clean

The final event at the Obodan District Assembly JHS in the Nsaba Circuit was unique in that, the boys were permitted to participate.

The Akuapem South District Director of Education, Mr Moses Tetteh Pornortey, noted that through the project, adolescent girls in the schools had been educated on how to keep themselves clean during their menstrual flows since uncleanliness had serious implications on their womanhood.

He reminded the girls that they had “reached a very slippery stage in their lives and if you joke, you might not finish your education, even though it is your right.”

Ms Liz Jones of Soroptimist International Club, Benicia, California, USA, said, “because education is the right of every woman and every girl, menstruation should not be in the way of education.” She said “members of Soroptimist International are helping to take away that problem, so I plead with you girls to take your education seriously.”

Mrs Lydia Amissah of Soroptimist International Accra said members were committed to transforming the lives of girls and women through different initiatives.

The Girl-Child Coordinator for Akwapim South District, Ms Elizabeth Sarfo Darko, expressed her gratitude to the club for their initiative, which she said would ensure that the monthly flow of girls, did not isolate them from schooling.
 
Way Forward

One of the girls, Louisa Fafali Dzamedzi, testified to the efficacy of the pad saying, “the reusable sanitary pad is very useful and has many advantages – it is economical, absorbent and convenient and you can use and use and reuse till you decide not to use it again.”

If this initiative is up scaled and embraced by the wider women populace, it will help address the issue of period poverty among most women and girls.