By Laudia Sawer
Tema, June 7, GNA – The Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate has appealed to stakeholders to help it provide sanitary pads to adolescent girls within the metropolis.
Adolescent girls and civil society organisations have been complaining about the prices of sanitary pads, which the girls cannot afford.
Ms Doris Ocansey, Tema Metro Adolescent Health Focal Person, made the appeal through the Ghana News Agency in Tema, as part of this year’s menstrual hygiene week celebration, which was on the theme: “Making Menstrual Hygiene a Normal Fact by 2030.”
Ms Ocansey said that apart from supporting such sanitary materials, stakeholders must also create the fora for more discussions on menstrual hygiene.
She urged parents to support their adolescent girls in openly discussing menstruation and other sexual and reproductive health issues, which are often a concern for their developmental stage.
She further encouraged students and pupils to visit any of the adolescent corners in their communities and public health institutions to interact with the youth-friendly nurses who were ready to attend to their health needs and counsel them.
Throwing more light on menstrual hygiene, she said menstruation was a physiological process that marked a sign of puberty in females, adding that as a natural process, it was expected that the experience would be normalized without any challenges.
The adolescent focal person said, however, that over the years, the situation had not been as expected, noting that the experience for adolescents had been characterized by stigma coupled with the unavailability of proper sanitary materials and hand hygiene facilities.
She said Menstrual Hygiene Day (MHD) is, therefore, one of the interventions targeted at promoting the rights of girls, demystifying all myths and misconceptions, and normalizing menstruation.
Ms. Ocansey stated that to mark the day, her outfit celebrated it with the sub-theme “Menstruation education for all” by collaborating with the Ghana Education Service for adolescent-friendly nurses to visit schools within their sub-metros and sensitize the adolescents on menstrual hygiene.
She said some of the topics touched on were the physiology of menstruation, personal hygiene practices during menstruation, nutrition, and managing menstrual discomforts, with the emphasis being put on the proper fixing and disposal of sanitary materials.
She added that the boys equally participated in the sessions and were encouraged to support girls during the menstruation period as well as have free discussions on menstruation to end the “period shame”.
As part of the celebrations, free sanitary pads were distributed to girls both in school and in the community.
GNA