Prime
Project breaks stigma around menstrual issues
The government has been asked to check the quality of sanitary pads given by donors to schoolgoing children in refugee camps and host communities across the country.
What you need to know:
- Girl-child education has played a great role in breaking the stigma related to menstruation.
At the foot of Mt Wati in Terego District, a teenager wanders in the trading centre. She is seen selling groundnut paste locally known as odii. Maria Letasi, a Primary Seven drop out, was just a term away from sitting her final exams when her periods started.
“The boys in my class laughed at the stains on my dress and most pupils did not want to sit next to me since they said I was ‘dirty’. It felt so uncomfortable and irritable,” Letasi, 14, says.
Letasi had no clue about how to manage her menstruation. Her parents did not see the need to purchase sanitary pads at the expense of food.
“My father could not afford to buy pads, let alone raise tuition […] Since I failed to manage my menstruation, I missed out on school more often hence the low grades,” she explains, adding: “Children from poorer families are the most-affected because when period finds them at home, they will not come to school because their parents cannot afford pads and since they fear being laughed at, they will abscond.”
Breaking stigma
Every year, actors in reproductive health set out to hike a mountain in a bid to end stigma around menstrual hygiene management while keeping girls in school. The initiative titled “Hike for the Girl Child” started in 2017.
“We realised that many girls are struggling to stay in school because they do not have access to menstrual products and are faced with fear of embarrassment from staining their dress,” Hope Nankunda Mwijuka, team leader at Raising Teenagers Uganda, reveals, adding: “They resort to begging men for pads, who take advantage of their vulnerability by sleeping with them hence becoming victims of teenage pregnancy thus the need for such campaigns to support more girls in Uganda.”
Ms Nankunda says the initiative has benefitted more than 48,000 girls in Uganda.
“We have hiked Mt Muhavura in Kisoro where we supported 400 girls, Rwenzori, Moroto, Sabiny, Mt Wanale in Mbale and recently hiked Mt Wati in Terego, where we supported 250 girls with sanitary pads to allow them attend school daily hence breaking the stigma around menstruation,” she says.’
Mr Francis Draleki of Amani initiative says the undertaking is intended to portray menstrual periods as a normal thing. Mr Drakeli adds that sensitisation and breaking period stigma starts from home.
“Family should give the girls acceptance that what they are going through shows the womanhood in a girl. We need to stop stigmatising because before anything, let’s look at our own sisters and mothers, who experience the same process,” he notes.
Ms Afuah Nanyonga of Dean Fings-Uganda, says addressing issues around menstruation is vitally important. She encourages sensitisation of the girls on menstrual management, which she believes is instrumental in breaking the stigma.
She further notes “once a girl is seen with breasts, they assume she is old enough to get married and looked at as material wealth and is told to go for marriage while still under age.”
Ms Nankunda outlines other techniques used in fighting stigma around menstruation and allowing more girls to live confidently and embrace their womanhood.
“We have used tools such as radio to speak out about the stigma, as well as local leaders to support many vulnerable girls to access education through passing on the message to the communities.”
She also urges parents to embrace the need to support their children and to treat pads as a necessity.
Male involvement
Ms Nankunda encourages the involvement of men and boys in the menstrual hygiene management conversation.
“We involve boys too in these conversations because we want boys to understand that menstruation is normal.”
This male involvement, she adds, enables the boys to support the girls instead of stigmatising them.
Mr Silivano Adeli, a deputy teacher at Erewa Primary School in Aiivu Sub-county, Terego, says male involvement is required in building a support system for the girls.
“At school, we gather both boys and girls together and address the issue jointly to help the boys understand that issues of menstruation are normal, and if a girl is experiencing their menstruation, they should respect and not make them feel uncomfortable as it causes them to drop out of school,” he says.
Call to action
Mr Adeli says girl-child education has played a great role in breaking the stigma related to menstruation.
“As a school, about 927 girls have received informative materials on menstruation through the senior woman teacher, and guided on menstrual management such as menstrual products that they can use, other usable materials such as soap, basin, and oils for their hygiene,” he reveals.
He, however, calls upon parents to take responsibility at home in offering girl-child education to end the stigma related to menstruation.
Ms Faith Nabunya, a menstrual hygiene strategist attached to the Grow Together project at Centre for Health, Human rights and Development (CEHURD), shares interventions that can improve menstrual management.
“There should be sensitisation of communities and school matrons on menstrual hygiene and management, where they guide the girls on best hygiene practices such as use of clean water, soap among others during periods.”
She emphasises the need to engage district officers, local leaders, probation and social welfare officers in community sensitisation.
Ms Nabunya calls upon policymakers to address issues on menstrual health.
“[The] government should provide safe spaces, changing rooms with clean water to allow girls to manage their hygiene when menstruating,” she suggests.
