Like Mpaka Adongpoka who lives with her widowed mother in one of the rural communities, in Northern Ghana, the period of menstruation is that time of emotional and psychological challenges in managing the monthly passage as, her mother cannot provide sanitary pads for her each month during her period.
Practical challenges
To this end, she recycles the old pieces of material her mother passed on to her when she first saw her period and as tradition goes ,she continued to keep the rags since they are readily in reach for her to use.
For Adongpoka, the JHS form 2 student, it was only once an organization visited their school and distributed some sanitary pads to students in her school during which time she had not seen her menstruation yet.
Speaking with the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Bolgatanga she said no such organization nor had government come with such a service to them in the school.
She said her mother Mbow Adongbire is unable to buy her sanitary pads every month and though she knows and understands what personal hygiene is, she still have to manage her menstruation with the material handed down to her by her mum which puts her health at risk as cleanliness cannot be guaranteed.
Gaps in menstrual health
Meanwhile the gaps as a country in realizing that menstrual health and hygiene is a key factor in achieving gender equality needs more discussions because Adongpoka and girls like her always skip school when the uneasiness of menstruation crops in.
Whether at home or school , their movement round is reduced and absent themselves from school because of fear of being stigmatized since a mistake by soiling themselves could become the talk among peers especially fellow school boys.
Cultural Norms
Some harmful cultural and social norms handed down to the young generation of young girls and boys and women continue to impact negatively on their lives because discourse over menstruation management to adolescent and young women remained behind the doors of many families as it is considered dirty and unclean and so the care and management of such periods remain only at the hands of the young girls whether rightly managed or not.
Most adolescent girls and young women continue to pursue the taboos and traditions and above all poverty and their inability to access sanitary pads and hygiene facilities lead to negative implication on their health and a hindrance to achieving the SDGs.
One of such consequences is the progression of adolescent girls and young women in their academic ladder and also their career opportunities are hindered because of the monthly challenges among others which lead to inequalities and discrimination at work places.
While poverty remains a reason for unmet menstrual heath needs such as toilets, changing rooms for schools and sanitary products, it has become more important than ever that the promotion of good health and wellbeing of all girls and young women for a more inclusive and dignified lives.
Statistics
Every month 1.8 billion people across the world menstruate, Millions of these girls, transgender men and non-binary persons are unable to manage their menstrual cycle in a dignified manner and a healthy way, (UNICEF report).
Ghana has signed on and endorsed several commitments both national and international to ensure people’s rights to sexual and reproductive health and also adopted legislative and administrative measures to implement these policies and commitments related to sexual and reproductive health.
However, there is still a deficit in such policies continue to affect most vulnerable groups such as young adolescent girls and young women and people living in rural communities, especially minority groups.
In most communities, many children and women still walk long distances to access water which is a critical challenge to reproductive health and worst still the lack of toilet facilities, which culminates in open defecation, which also affects the confidence of most young girls and women in their periods.
Some interventions
Oxfam Ghana through its local partner Participatory Action for Rural Development Alternatives (PARDA), is one among other organizations implementing a seven-year project Global Affairs Canada programme dubbed Power to choose (P2C) aiming to influence increased access to reproductive health information and services for adolescent girls and young women (AG&YW) between the ages 10 and 24 years.
It is implemented in five regions namely the Northern, North East, Bono East, Central and Greater Accra in eight Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.
The objective is also to empower adolescent girls, and women and their communities to make informed choices about themselves and their sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Dr Michael Wombeongo, Executive Director In an interview with the GNA said sensitization on menstruation and menstrual hygiene was focused towards International Menstual Hygiene day and among schools that had benefitted pupils in Nayorku JHS, Morzuu JHS and the TI Amadiyah JHS and other vocational apprentices such as hairdressers, dressmakers and weavers totaling Four hundred and twenty four ( 424 ) adolescent girls and young women receiving free disposable sanitary pads.
PARDA according to him spent a total of Twenty five thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS 25,000.00) in 2024 on free disposable sanitary pads for distribution to adolescent girls and public sensitization through radio on menstrual health targeted at parents and community leaders in the North East Region.
Conclusion and recommendations
Menstrual hygiene rights are key human rights and should not be left in the hands of adolescent girls and young women alone to handle as they need to break the stigma they suffer during these periods. It is therefore necessary that government implements policies on menstrual health to address the challenges girls face in this area.
Adolescent young girls need information and awareness about their menstruation and its management to live dignified lives and this requires that education be intensified in communities and schools while parents take the challenge to openly discuss with their girls and boys and ensure that resources needed for management of menstruation is made.
It is only by equipping them with education that boys and young men can assist their sisters and friends in menstruation.
When a girl misses school and lessons because of menstruation, she needs every support from peers to make up for the lessons and time lost.
Water access in communities, schools and changing rooms particularly in schools are key during but many schools lack these facilities and if menstruation can be managed well, these must come to help the girls in schools therefore government, communities and non-governmental organizations are needed to intervene in this regard.
Access to affordable and sustained sanitary pads distribution will ensure that girls are in school all time, reduce absenteeism and improve the fortunes of young women in the job market therefore government should endeavour to support the girls and also institute ways of disposing the pads in an environmentally accepted ways.
GNA
