From Wilson Okereke, Afikpo
Resource person and desk officer for adolescents in the Adolescents Health and Development initiative, Ebonyi State Ministry of Health, Public Health Department and Reproductive Health Unit, Mrs. Rosegold Chinwendu Okoro, has disclosed the importance of equipping all schools in the state with sanitary pads.
Okoro made this known during the commemoration of the 2023 International Menstrual Hygiene Day at Holy Child Secondary School, Afikpo. She added that such arrangements would enhance the concentration of female students in their studies while experiencing their monthly periods.
According to her, the programme was a global event birthed by the Water Sanitation and Health (WASH) unit of a non-governmental organisation in Germany, while May 28 was chosen based on the fact it is the average cycle of most females as medically proven.
“An average menstrual cycle is usually 28 days and on this note 28th was selected, while the flows last for at least five days, and on this note too, the fifth month of the year being May was choosen for the celebration. This means 28 days for the average cycle and five days because of the number of the days for the flow,” she explained.
She added that Ebonyi State Universal Basic Education Board (EBSUBEB) in collaboration with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Peking University, China, being the organizers of the programme, with the theme “Menstruation a natural fact of life”, are targeting the year 2030 when everyone must have got the knowledge that menstruation is part of life rather than a problem.
Mrs. Okoro, who doubles as a midwife and nurse, said the act does not negate the value of any woman and thereby advised that ladies should no longer feel ashamed or afraid during their menstrual periods.
She further frowned at some misconceptions associated with the cycle such as banning a woman from preaching the gospel during the flow or staying at the altar because of the flow.
“During the olden days, some peoples’ menstruation did start from the age of 12 years and above but perhaps due to some changes in human system an eight-year-old girl can experience it nowadays and in addition to that good menstrual hygiene is tantamount to keeping good health and prevention of infections.
“Therefore, I am appealing that those who may not have access to sanitary pads should always be provided with the item and there should be a provision for the items in all the schools to curtail the stress and risks associated with running back home from school because of the pads.
“With such plans, once a child experiences stain on her wear, she will easily meet the teacher or peer educator that is in charge of the item, collect one and change and continue with her studies. The same person can still make use of her own when she gets home,” she explained.
Mrs. Okoro also advised mothers to desist from providing their female children with all sorts of rags in place of the pads during the cycle as such could harbour micro organisms capable of causing sickness to the users.
The executive education secretary, Afikpo North Local Government Area, Mr. Raymond Ifeanyi Ikpor, said that the event was aimed at enlightening the targeted children on how to care for their bodies during their monthly menstrual cycles.
“Beside the hygiene aspect of the event, the children will also know that menstruation is not a bad thing since it is part of their lives; the act of menstruating should not be seen as an offence.
“The programme will avail them the opportunity to know that at a certain age that one needs to menstruate and they should not involve themselves in sexual relationship at such tender age. They will equally know that the act of going into marriage before 18 years is child abuse,” he said.
He further said that the essence of incoperating younger female children in the event was to prepare their minds that they would also undergo such natural process in their life time.
Ikpor commended the organisers of the programme and UNESCO for chosen Afikpo North as the take-off base of the event in the federation.
Mrs Elizabeth Udu, the master trainer, UNESCO Afikpo North LGA and coordinator of the Health Club in Ebonyi State, said that apart from the training already given to over 2,000 teachers in the state that border on self esteem, body image, value clarification and decision making and management, sexual abuse and child abuse, that the international organization is currently and single handedly working on health manuals for both the teachers and the students.
She mentioned some of those abuses to include calling someone a dullard, short engine, fatty fatly and good for nothing among others.
According to her, the teaching from UNESCO had ended stigmatization against menstruating students as the people could freely go to schools without feeling ashamed concerning their menstrual flows.
“The training has equally made the male students to know that menstruation is natural rather than crime. This is why we will not stop thanking the organisation and the Pekings University for the programme,” she said.
The master trainer also said that many others had been trained on the production of re- usable or washable pads and as a result appealed for sponsorship to prevent what she called “period poverty” among girls.
The school principal, Mrs Grace Egwu, said that the event showed that both the female child and everything that has to do with her wellbeing are important to the nation and the world.
“Many years ago, girls were not allowed to discuss menstruation and menstrual hygiene openly because of some fallacies that beclouded their minds without anyone to provide them with the answers. And on this note, some of them fell prey to vices and situations that robbed them of their future and even lives,” she narrated.
She appreciated the organizers on behalf of the girls of the council area for taken it upon themselves to keep the girl child safe and educated.
One of the participants and student of St. Francis Ibiam Grammar School Afikpo, Miss Amarachi Chukwu Nweke, disclosed that the programme had made her to know that menstruation is a natural cycle which the body goes through before a female could have a baby.
“The menstruation is a normal passage in life. Thus no one should be scared of it as it is found in some rural areas. The enlightenment is strongly kicking against body shaming and other similar behaviors.
“In some societies, a menstruating person is not allowed to touch ordinary crops let alone cooperating with other members of the society and I believe that these are some of things that stimulated UNESCO into the programme,” she explained.
She added that the essence of observing the World Menstrual Hygiene Day was to educate the targeted persons on how to care for themselves during the month cycle and thereby appealed to some men to desist from discriminating against the menstruating ladies as their own mothers had passed through the same process before they were born.
Miss Nweke also charged women to always be proud of the cycle since it is the only natural passage into womanhood and advised that the menstrual cycles should always be celebrated as birth days.
“Parents should always celebrate their menstruating female children because without the process procreation will end,” she added.
It was gathered that the great number of the partakers were selected from 10 different schools of the council while Afikpo North LGA was the first beneficiary of the event in the federation.