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By Ude Ogbonnaya Israel, Bauchi
In line with efforts to provide girl child with healthy menstrual hygiene management, stakeholders have advanced the need to introduce pad banks for mestruating students in schools.
This formed parts of the decision in a quatrely meeting of the Project Steering Committee members of Bauchi State Menstrual Hygiene Management as funded by Kimberly Clark Corporation (KOTEX) and Implemented by Plan International.
Speaking to our correspondent on Jos, Venue of the Quatrely meeting, the Executive Chairman Primary Health Care Development Agency BPHCDA and Chairman of the committee, Dr Rilwanu Mohammed said the approach is feasible by engaging school authorities.
Apart from missing classes due to their period, he lamented that most of the girls are prone to infection by using other unhygienic materials during menstruation adding that Pad Banks in schools can address it.
“Majority of the students, 60 to 70% of these young girls that are having menstrual pain are due to infection, because they are using different things to take care of this, some use clothes, tissue paper and even dirty rags”, he said.
Earlier, Plan Coordinator of the Project in Bauchi State Afolabi Ahmed said the priority areas for them currently is to educate young girls to cope with Menstrual disorder, strengten outreach in schools and communities among others.
According to him they are still deploying the three Key strategies of Adolescent programming, community influencing and Mass media messaging to meet their objectives.
After reviewing the programme activities, successes and challenges in previous endeavours, Participants at the event insisted that adequate arrangement should be made for the Project to be sustained so that it will not fade when the funders eventually withdraw.
Highlight of the discussion was a unianimous adoption of certain action points that will guide subsequent engagement strategies of the committee members in order to ultimately meet the overall objectives.
