The Aide á la vulnèrabillitè, a health and charity-based group in Bolgatanga, Upper East Region, has presented sanitary items to the Gbeogo School for the Deaf in the Talensi District, to improve their hygiene conditions.
The items included 10 boxes of sanitary pads, 25 litres each of bleach and washing soap.
Mr Charles Lwanga Moandiyiem Tabase, the Chairman of the group, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after the donation, said 47 females aged between 12 and 24 years received three packs of the sanitary pads to help them maintain their menstrual hygiene for the next three months.
He said the bleach and washing soap would be used to clean their lavatories and indicated that the gesture was not the first of its kind, as the group had over the years extended similar support, including medical screening of the students.
‘The decision to launch the quarterly sanitary pad donation campaign was made in 2020, following a health needs assessment done at the school in 2019’, Mr Tabase, who is a third-ye
ar Doctor of Philosophy student in Public Health at the University of Connecticut Health Centre, United States of America, said.
He said the group’s assessment indicated some menstrual hygiene management gaps, including the use of reusable sanitary pads and rags, owing to what he described as ‘sanitary pad poverty’.
He said, ‘In response to these findings, the organization began making periodic sanitary pad gifts to the school in 2022, through the generosity of friends and cash contributions from our team members.’
Mr Tabase noted that the primary purpose of the group was its continuous endeavour to assist young females in the school in managing their menstrual hygiene and their overall well-being.
‘Our continuous focus on the Gbeogo School for the Deaf aligns with our mission to aid vulnerable populations.
‘Looking ahead, we hope to collaborate locally and internationally with organizations, individuals, and institutions interested in menstrual hygiene management, to help more students, by supplying san
itary pads regularly to them’, he said.
The Chairman further urged the government to immediately abolish the exorbitant tariffs on sanitary pads so that all students, regardless of their background, could maintain their menstrual health with dignity and without financial difficulty.
He said, ‘Taxing sanitary pads burdens vulnerable students, particularly those from low-income families, or whose parents have abandoned them. The exorbitant expense of sanitary products forces young students to choose between controlling their menstrual health and meeting fundamental needs.’
Mr Tabase said the high cost of sanitary pads compelled students to miss school, practice bad hygiene, and risk dangerous diseases.
He thanked leadership and members of the group, made of health professionals of various categories and benevolent members of the public, who continued to support them to put ‘smiles on the faces of these young ladies.’
Madam Matilda Teni, the girls’ Housemistress of the school, thanked the Aide á la vulnèrab
illitè for the initiative to support students, especially the females, and appealed for more such support to the school to improve their hygiene conditions.
Source: Ghana News Agency