By Dennis Peprah
Abesim, (Bono), Feb. 22, GNA- Access to sanitary pads and improved changing rooms is directly linked to multiple United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The goals are SDG 3 (Health), SDG 4 (Education), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), and SDG 6 (Water and Sanitation).
These ensure affordable, accessible menstrual hygiene products reduces period poverty, prevents school dropout rates for girls, reduces reproductive health risks and supports dignity.
The UN enjoins countries around the globe to meet those targets by 2030.
However, just about four years to go, lack of access to improved sanitary facilities remains a major challenge in many basic and SHSs, especially schools in rural communities.
In that regard, some concerned stakeholders are calling on the government to mount sanitary pad dispensers and construct improved changing rooms for Basic and Senior High School girls to stay consciously and learn in school.
They nonetheless lauded the government’s free sanitary pads distribution among girls.
However, they added the girls needed improved changing rooms, and the dispensers to sustain their interest in remaining in schools whenever they menstruated.
The stakeholders include civil society actors and organisations, representatives of government institutions like the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Department of Gender and the Department of Children and the Ghana Education Service.
They made the call at a day’s meeting held at Abesim, near Sunyani, organised by the Bono Regional office of the ActionAid Ghana (AAG), a non-government organisation working to alleviate poverty.
As part of its Accountability Learning and Planning Systems (ALPs), the AAG embarks on a Participatory Review and Reflection Processes (PRRPs) each year.
These processes usually lead to the development of interventions and budgets for the ensuing year through engagement meetings with key stakeholders within the Regional Programme operational areas.
The process aimed to collectively analyse and critically reflect on programme performance, achievements, emerging social issues and draw lessons to inform future programming.
It further requires the AAG to take steps to engage various stakeholders in the ensuing year to give feedback on the approved plans to facilitate implementations.
So, the AAG organised the meeting as a follow up on the outcome of the 2025 consultations which led to the development of the 2026 programme interventions to address structural causes of poverty and social injustices in the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regions.
The meeting highlighted the approved plans and budgets for the stakeholders to discuss the areas of collaboration to achieve the expected outcomes.
Some of the stakeholders who spoke during an open forum, regretted that many schoolgirls, especially those in rural communities, failed to go to school whenever they menstruated because they could not afford to buy sanitary pads.
“It’s sad that some of them who have their menstruation can’t even change themselves in schools basically because of the lack of changing rooms and sanitary dispensers”, Mrs Joycelyn Adii, the Bono Regional Director of the Department of Gender stated.
Mr Kwame Afram Denyira, the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regional Programme Manager of the AAG said the situation remained worrying, leading to high girls’ school-dropout rate in the three regions.
He called on the government to respond to and tackle the problem with urgency and to create an enabling environment for girls to sustain the interest of girls to stay and learn in schools.
Mr Edmond Gyebi, the Communication Officer of the Global Media Foundation (GloMeF), an NGO stressed the need for the government to do more to tackle the emerging challenges inimical to the holistic growth and development of girls in the country.
He said improved sanitary facilities in schools would greatly build the confidence of girls and sustain their interest in always remaining and learning in schools, even during menstruation.
GNA
Edited by Benjamin Mensah