*As foundation laments 30% Nigeria girls lack access to menstrual care

WaterAid Nigeria has called on the government to put in place, policies to ensure proper management of menstrual hygiene for women and girls.

The Project Manager, Mambam Michael, while speaking at the Menstrual Hygiene Management Day celebration yesterday in Abuja, noted that since the federal government was committed to the Sustainable Development Goal 6.2, which talks about hygiene and sanitation, especially paying attention to women and girls, then it was important to put in place, the needed policies to achieve the goal.

She stated that since the day was recognized by the United Nations General Assembly as a human rights day, it was the right of the women and girls to have access to every information and product on menstrual hygiene

Mambam said that menstrual hygiene was standing on three point including, “breaking the silence, using of menstruation hygienically and disposing the menstruation the right way.”

She said: “When they break the silence, it becomes a topical issue and girls will no longer be shy about it. It important for the boys to also be aware of menstrual hygiene so as to support the girls and not to make jest of them. Menstrual hygiene that is not properly managed can lead to vagina infection on the girls’ reproductive system.”

The founder, Yagazie Foundation, Ezirim, lamented that 30 per cent of Nigerians still lack access to menstrual healthcare despite its importance to women and girls.

He stressed that providing access to menstrual hygiene will help reduce maternal mortality rate, adding that lots of women have died due to lack of access to menstrual care, unavailability of facilities to aid menstrual management in the country

He called on the government to collaborate and provide finances to Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), agencies and other related organizations to be able to carry out initiatives to eliminate menstrual crises, saying that with more support from the government, Yagazie Foundation will be able to curb maternal mortality related to menstrual crisis to the lowest ebb

The Director, Child Development Department, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Andrew Maidugu, said the sensitization was brought to Government College, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja, to inform the girls from the adolescent age on what menstrual hygiene was all about, stressing that if they do not understand the issue, it will affect them when they are growing.

He said the Menstrual Hygiene Day has been tagged, “We are committed”, saying that the ministry was committed to ensuring every female child has access to sanitary pads, and that they have brought in several partners to distribute sanitary pads to all the girls. This same event was going on simultaneously across the 36 states of the federation.