Access to Sanitary pads still remains a challenge to get for Girls, Women

International Menstrual Hygiene Day, commemorated annually on May 28th, stands as a pivotal occasion to elevate awareness and champion the rights surrounding menstrual health and hygiene.

Menstrual health is an important part of a woman’s well-being as its onset marks the transition from childhood to early adolescence up until a woman’s menopause.

Girls and women getting Sanitary pads

The menstrual period carries stigma to young ladies and women about it and almost a taboo to seek redress on issues surrounding menstruation. This leaves young girls and women alike ill-informed about proper hygiene management practices, such as timely product changes and suitable menstrual products leading to onset of poor hygiene.

To address this critical issue AHF Rwanda in partnership with RNGOs Forum, Empower Rwanda, Afro Ark and SAYE Company organized a weeklong campaign to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and empower women and girls to take charge of their menstrual health to improve their wellbeing.

AHF-Rwanda Medical Director, Kamwesiga Julius, on the occasion of International Menstrual Hygiene Day, said it is normal for a girl or woman to menstruate, but it should be the time to help provide them with sanitary equipment.

AHF-Rwanda Medical Director, Kamwesiga Julius

He said: "Having your period is normal and it’s the right of the owner, but the culture and beliefs of some people are very intrusive and you find that the person who studied it is ostracized and in some cases excluded and That’s what we have to fight against because these girls are our children.”

In order to address price increment on the sanitary pads, Rwanda Biomedical Centre announced that the government has made efforts to reduce the prices of sanitary napkins (cotex) even after the profit tax has been deducted, but there are sellers who do not stop selling them.

The Director of Maternal and Child Health Programs at RBC, Dr. Cyiza François Regis, started the celebration of the annual International Day of Cleanliness for Menstruating Women and Girls.

Dr. Cyiza François Regis said that there is a need for institutional cooperation to encourage traders to reduce the prices of ’cotex’ because the most important thing the government has done is to collect taxes.

The Director of Maternal and Child Health Programs at RBC, Dr. Cyiza François Regis stating a point at the event.

He said, "The Value Added Tax (VAT) has been removed from the National Tax and Peace Center, but the traders are the ones who are the ones who are the most vulnerable [...] today is a good day to remind us that we need to advocate again so that the decision becomes a law again. We remind the MPs that these things never happened.’’

Ariane, one of the recipients of cotex, said that providing free cotex to the needy has become a constant activity, because there are those who use traditional methods such as cloths, and find that they have ’infections’ that they do not have the ability to treat.

Igihozo Yassina, who is in charge of reproductive health and gender issues at the Non-Governmental Organisations, Rwanda NGOs Forum, said that it is not possible to say that the education system for all has been achieved when there are low-income girls missing out. school five days every month without ’cotex’ they are in the ritual, and their elders study every day.

Igihozo Yassina stressing a point at the event.

She said, "We cannot talk about equality, we cannot talk about education for all, we cannot talk about the attraction of a man and a woman in the Nyarwanda family, when a boy can study all 30 days but a girl can skip five days, because if they go to do the tests, they will not do anything different, and the girl will not be taught anything else that she did not study in the five days she missed.’’

This was confirmed by Jennifer Mujuni, the representative of the Empower Rwanda Community, who said that even though a girls’ room has been set up in schools and a ’cotex’ has been set up so that a student who has attended a ceremony at school can use it, there are some places where it is not because of the cost, and she is asking for the cooperation of the companies. by including them.

By; Mugenzi Napoleon