By Samuel Dodoo
Obom/Domeabra (GAR). May 30, GNA – Safe Child Ghana, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that promotes child development, has launched a menstrual hygiene board game to mark the day at the Ashamoah Municipal Assembly Basic School in the Ga South Municipality.
The board game first ever in the country and designed by Mr. Michael Baabu, founder of Safe Child Ghana, was created based on numerous written literature and research by the NGO to create awareness, education, and remove taboos and stigmatisation.
After going through the game, the player gets equipped and imbibes menstrual hygiene rules to dispel any harmful cultural myths and taboos.
The Day commemorated on May 28, 2023, was on the theme “Making menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030.”
Mrs Eunice Gifty Baabu, Chief Executive Officer of the Safe Child Ghana, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the day has been set aside to create awareness to improve menstrual hygiene practices among girls.
She said to achieve the goals of the theme, “We must involve boys in our education to demystify menstruation” and urged government to remove all taxes on pads to make it accessible for all.
She said the NGO does education extensively by involving boys and empower girls to counter stigmatisation and taboos.
Mrs Baabu said, menstruation was a natural phenomenon, without it we all would not be here as it happened to enable conception for populating the world and advised girls to endure for now as it normally ceases by age 45 to 50 years.
“Access to the products, toilets and education taboos and stigma were some of challenges hence the need for Safe Child Ghana to donates six months’ supply of sanitary pads to the Ashamoah Basic school to enable the girls enjoy their menstrual periods,” she said
She said the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area. Sanitation and Water, funded by the world Bank had built institutional toilet for several schools to improve access to toilets in partnership with Safe Child Ghana to handle the sanitation aspect of the programme.
Mr Baabu, founder of Safe Child Ghana, who demonstrated with the students through the game, stressed the need for all to redouble their efforts to support menstrual hygiene activities to achieve the goals.
Miss Mercy Agbodze, headmistress of the school expressed gratitude to the NGO for launching the board game and donating the pads to the students.
GNA