NGO calls for provision of sanitary pads in schools

DODOMA : A Non governmental organisation – The Girl Initiative has asked the government to initiate a programme for providing sanitary pads to girls in schools to help those who cannot afford to buy them.

The move will help them avoid using unsafe materials and reduce absenteeism of girls in schools.

The Director of the NGO Ms Rebecca Gyumi, made the call in Dodoma recently during a safe menstrual stakeholders’ meeting aimed at looking on how the issue of safe menstruation can be improved to enable girls access right to education.

Advertisement

A recent analysis showed that if the government decided to provide sanitary towels to girls in school, it would spend around 37bn/- a year, a budget that could be taken as part of the Ministry of Education’s budget each year and stakeholders’ contribution, said Ms Gyumi.

Earlier, Safe Menstrual Stakeholders Forum Secretary Ms Severeine Allute, said taxes imposed on the sanitary towels raise their prices in the market.

“The presence of value-added tax on these products is one of the reasons why they are sold at high prices that many girls cannot afford, hence forcing them to use other materials that are not safe for their health and sometimes engage in risky behaviour in order to obtain high-quality products,” he said.

On his part, a researcher from National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Robert Njee, said that a 2021 study showed that 17 per cent of girls missed their studies for three months a year while only 28.1 per cent had a full understanding of menstrual issues.

He also said research shows that 60 per cent of girls cannot afford buying quality sanitary towels hence they are using unsafe means and 27 per cent of girls do not change their towels during their menstruation period.

Add a comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *