Executive Director, Centre for Adolescent Health and Social Development, Dr Fatimah Odusote has called on the Federal Government to put measures in place to make menstrual hygiene materials readily accessible.
Odusote said this in an interview on Saturday with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja to commemorate the Menstrual Hygiene Day.
The theme of Menstrual Hygiene Day is “Making menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030.”
The Day is commemorated on May 28 of every year, to highlight the importance of menstruation and proper menstrual hygiene management for every girl and woman irrespective of their location.
The day also highlights the need to address the common myths surrounding menstruation and break the silence and shame on menstruation.
She said government also needed to provide sustainable access to water and sanitation for proper menstrual management for girls and women.
She noted that this could be done through direct implementation, both in schools using the school health programme framework and communities.
“Government needs to partner with private sector entities, NGOs and communities where applicable.
” There is a need for continuous sensitisation, awareness and provision of age and culturally appropriate information regarding menstruation and proper menstrual hygiene management for girls and women not just during menstrual hygiene day celebration
” Such awareness should also involve and meaningfully engage boys and men in other to offer a sustainable support system for every girl and woman,” Odusote said.
She said proper awareness can also help break the silence, shame, stigmatisation and the myths and taboos in our society on menstruation and menstrual hygiene.
Odusote said there was need for total commitment by the government to implement the school health programmes across the country through intersectoral and multisectoral collaboration to achieve improved well-being.
She said many girls in the rural and urban areas still did not have the needed knowledge and information regarding proper menstrual hygiene management.
“In a particular instance in a hard-to-reach community where we carried out intervention, about 63 per cent of the girls did not have the needed information regarding menstruation.
” Such knowledge gap also includes that of adequate information on menstruation.
“It is also interesting that the knowledge deficiency has also been observed in some mothers, female guardians, and teachers during our interventions,” Odusote said.
She said there was need for more girls and women to have access to the correct information on menstruation and menstrual hygiene management.
Odusote said government needed to put in place policy frameworks, facilities, and an enabling environment for every girl and woman.
NAN reports that Centre for Adolescent Health and Social Development is an NGO in Nigeria with a specific focus on adolescent health through programmatic interventions to help improve their overall wellbeing.
On menstrual health, the organization has implemented 13 interventions (schools and communities) in the Southwest, North Central and South-South regions of Nigeria using a deliberately curated menstrual hygiene pamphlet as a guide.(NAN)