Angela Onwuzoo Leading maternal health experts and women’s rights advocates have called on the Federal Government to come up with a policy to subsidise the cost of sanitary pads and make them free for schoolgirls in the country. The stakeholders said the economic hardship and rising inflation in the country had made sanitary pads unaffordable for many girls. They noted that by making menstrual products free or affordable and ensuring wider access to safe sanitation facilities in schools and workplaces, the country can put a stop to period poverty.
The United Nations Population Fund described period poverty as the struggle many low-income women and girls face while trying to afford menstrual products. The stakeholders including the United Nations Women spoke in commemoration of this year’s World Menstrual Hygiene Day with the theme, “Together for a #PeriodFriendlyWorld.” World Menstrual Hygiene Day, observed annually on May 28, is a global initiative aimed at breaking the silence and raising awareness about the importance of good menstrual hygiene management.
Experts say menstruation (also called a “period”) is a normal biological process experienced by millions around the world each month. This happens when the uterus sheds blood and tissue from the uterine lining and leaves your body through the vagina. UNFPA states that a woman menstruates for an average of 2,535 days in her lifetime or almost seven years out of 39 (Five days per 28-day cycle).
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