Mildred Siabi-Mensah
Newsite, May 29, GNA – The debate about sanitary pads must favour the girl-child’s ability to get, buy and use sanitary pads.
Ms. Akua Ansah-Eshon, the Executive Director of Advocates and Trainers for Children’s and Women’s Advancement and Rights (ATCWAR), who made the observation said girls were the mothers of tomorrow.
“Parliament must understand this and ensure that the debate did not only focus on the business environment and profits about also the ability for the normal girl to lay hands on a pad every month to go through the cycle conveniently,” Ms. Ansah-Eshun said.
Ms. Ansah-Eshon, a renowned women’s Rights Advocate said the ability of the girl child to be provided for by care givers, did not only ensure that they had stable minds to study, but also boost their confidence to resist any form of enticement from unscrupulous men who may under the guise of supplying their needs, take advantage of her.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, she urged parents to beware of the first menarche and support their girl-child through the new stage of life.
She said, seeing the first menarche, does not necessarily mean that the flow would continue…”do not subject your girl child to abuses or trauma just because the first menarche has come and the following month, no flow”.
Ms. Ansah-Eshon narrated how she was subjected to beating and other psychological issues because the flow ceased from the first month…but I was proved innocent.
She also educated the girlchild to properly handle the pads and panties…you need to first rinse without soap to get rid of every stain before using soap to wash your panties properly to avoid stench, also use lime to clean up your armpit and the virginal areas to maintain cleanliness and good smell”.
The Executive Director of the ATCWAR explained that pains experienced around the abdomen were normal but urged that when it becomes excruciating, then they should report to a gynecologist for the appropriate care and not to resort to pain killers.
GNA