The wife of the Executive Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Tamunominini Makinde has called on teachers in the state to create an enabling environment to teach about menstrual hygiene and protect girls from persons who may not understand the challenges they are going through during their menstrual cycle.
She added that the lack of menstrual hygiene is a challenge to the well-being of girls in society.
Mrs Makinde made these remarks during one of her programmes, ‘A Day out with the Girls of Oyo State,’ held on Wednesday at the House of Chiefs, Ibadan.
She stated that it is unfortunate that menstrual hygiene is still a significant challenge for many girls in Nigeria, emphasising that girls lack access to good sanitary pads, clean public toilets, and menstrual hygiene management, among other things.
The program, themed ‘Your menstrual hygiene matters,’ had girls from 100 schools across the 33 local government areas of Oyo State as participants.
“These challenges affect not only the girls’ health but also their emotional and psychological well-being. Menstrual hygiene is either treated as hush-hush or surrounded by silence and embarrassment.
But it is time to break the silence, address the embarrassment, and teach our girls how to care for themselves properly.
“Today’s teaching is about how girls can care for themselves during their period, which is essential for their overall well-being. There is no shame in learning about your menstrual cycle, the changes in your body, and how to track your periods.
This knowledge empowers you to plan for your period. It also enables you to make educated decisions on how to take care of yourself during your menstrual cycles, such as when to get the materials needed.
“Parents and Guardians, I want you to join us in breaking the silence and stigma surrounding menstruation by encouraging your daughters to talk to you or any other trusted family members about their menstrual cycle,” Mrs Makinde said.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs Monisola Udoh, said millions of women and girls worldwide experience period poverty, which is characterised by limited access to period products, menstrual education, inadequate water sanitation, and hygiene facilities, in addition to cultural norms, stigma, and taboos surrounding menstruation, which further create barriers to achieving good menstrual health practices.
According to her, “Although people’s experiences of period poverty are varied and unique, the social determinants of health and structural determinants of gender inequality act as key drivers of period poverty across the world, including Nigeria.
“Research has revealed that globally, girls are forced to miss school due to a lack of sanitary items. In Nigeria, about 52 million women and young girls experience menstruation with almost 70 per cent of them having no access to sanitary pads; 1 in 10 girls miss school for about 48 days in a year because of lack of information and access to safe sanitary products and clean water as well as cultural and religious reasons; shame, stigma and misinformation surrounding menstruation which are contributing factors to serious human rights concerns for women and girls, making them vulnerable to gender discrimination, child marriage, exclusion, violence, poverty and untreated health problems.
“This monthly pattern of missing out on education has devastating long-term effects, not only in terms of educational development but also on the psyche of young girls and women. Assessment of menstrual hygiene management in Nigeria shows lack of adequate facilities and guidance in schools and communities,” she said.
According to her, it is in the realisation of these facts that the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs distributed 39,000 reusable pads to 13 States; Adamawa, Borno, Kwara, Plateau, Jigawa, Zamfara, Edo, Bayelsa, Imo, Enugu, Ogun, Ekiti, and Oyo.
In his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr A. O. Adeyanju, stated that millions of women and girls around the world are stigmatised, excluded, and discriminated against simply because they menstruate, adding that while Menstrual Hygiene Day is on May 28, it should be echoed all year round to break taboos and end the stigma surrounding menstruation.
According to him, the World Health Organization (WHO) calls for menstrual health to be recognized, framed, and addressed as a health and human rights issue and not a hygiene issue.
He expressed the belief that Mrs Makinde’s commitment and intervention will encourage health policymakers and program managers to promote the rights of girls and people who menstruate and meet their comprehensive menstrual health needs, especially in humanitarian contexts.
He identified critical factors that are essential pillars to effective menstrual health and hygiene interventions for women and girls including peer support, trusted adults, privacy without secrecy or shame, and policy support.
All the girls that participated in the event, drawn from schools across Oyo State, were given goodie bags containing essentials like reusable sanitary towels, bathing soap, deodorant, other sanitary materials, and panties in addition to refreshments.
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