Three civil society organizations in the country have joined global partners in menstrual health and hygiene to launch this year’s Menstrual Hygiene Day in Accra.
The three are Hope for Future Generations (HFFG), the Association of African Women in Development (AAWID), and Youth Support Foundation (YSF).
The launch was symbolically marked with a kick of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) football, which is going around 26 countries globally on the virtual campaign and on the theme, “Kick off a dialogue on menstrual health”.
Campaign
The campaign, which started on May 1, 2021, is to last through to May 28, 2021, as a way to trigger a transnational dialogue on menstrual health and hygiene to support girls and young women including those living with disabilities as part of their feminine journey to menstruate with dignity.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Executive Director of HFFG, Mrs. Cecilia Senoo, said as HFFG celebrated its 20 years this year of impacting the lives of millions of key and vulnerable populations across the 16 regions in the country, “the anniversary celebration will focus on consolidating HFFG’s achievements.
“We will continue to be the voice of those women and girls mostly left behind. Our slogan ‘Pads for girls everywhere’ will target the distribution of 500,000 reusable pads to key and vulnerable women and girls in hard-to-reach areas”.
Restoring dignity
This, she said, included those that were socially excluded and stigmatized because of their status, saying that the HFFG would continue to partner with the many organizations contributing to menstrual hygiene in Ghana with an expectation of restoring their dignity and trust in society.
The International Menstrual Hygiene Day, which is celebrated on May 28, is a day to promote menstrual health and management as well as to break the silence on stigma and challenges facing girls in relation to menstruation across the world.
Globally, it is estimated that more than 130 million girls are reported to miss out of school during their period.
According to Mrs. Senoo, among the reasons for that were period poverty, lack of information and education on menstrual health management, lack of sanitary menstrual hygiene products, and a lack of sanitary toilet facilities, adding that ultimately, girls and women stood the risk of infection and disease during menstruation.
She said championing the event in Ghana, HFFG, AAWID, and YSF were national community-based non-governmental organizations that focused on empowering women, children, and young people including persons with disabilities to live to their full potential in the most dignified manner.
These organizations, she said, had decided to collaborate to implement projects, especially on menstrual hygiene management, with support from Real Relief, Global Goals World Cup (GGWC), and United Nations Youth Association of Denmark (UNYA Denmark).
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