Ghana commemorates World Menstrual Hygiene Day

Ghana on Tuesday, joined the rest of the world to celebrate International Menstrual Hygiene (MH) Day.

MH Day, which is a global advocacy platform and started in 2014, is observed annually to promote good menstrual hygiene management practices, raise awareness of the challenges females face during menstruation.

It is to break the silence, change the negative social norms around MHM, engage decision-makers to increase political prioritization and catalyse action for MHM at both national and sub-national levels.

Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service (GES) in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), Ministry of Health/Ghana Health Service and the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources organized the Programme.

The theme for this year’s celebration was: “It’s time for action on MHM,” with focus on action in the critical area of MHM education.

The theme seeks to advocate for policy and decision making to prioritize MHM and remove taxes on menstrual hygiene products, provide gender and disability friendly toilets with changing rooms to provide security and privacy for girls during menstruation and intensify education to reduce myths and misconceptions surrounding menstruation.

Madam Freda Prempeh, Deputy Minister for Gender Children and Social Protection called on all parents to guide their girls on how to manage their menstrual cycles.

She said that some of the girls lacked the knowledge about menstruation and relied on getting knowledge from friends, teachers and others, which was not the best. ‘’Some unscrupulous men take advantage of the young girls by sleeping with them after assisting them to purchase a menstrual pad, ‘’she said.

She stressed the need to empower the girl-child during menstruation to enable them to have the confidence to go through the period.

“They should help them change the perception that menstruation is something negative, shameful, dirty and taboo as many cultures do, which cause emotional trauma to girls during their menstrual period.”

She said two out of five adolescent girls were excluded from social activities during menstruation because of the complication they encountered. Madam Freda urged parents to provide menstrual materials and educate their young girls on how to manage it by cleaning themselves well to avoid catching infections.

The Deputy Minister suggested that it was time Ghana started producing its own sanitary pads since the country had a lot of resources.

The Deputy Minister opined that government was committed to providing some facilities such as clean water, clean toilet and others in some schools to help the girls manage their menses provide some drugs such as Folic acid to address their anaemia problem.

Madam Gifty Twum Ampofo, the Deputy Minister of Education, said effective menstrual hygiene was vital to one’s health and was essential for girls to manage themselves well during the period.

The Deputy Minister said menstruation was a natural thing and urged society to desist from stigmatising the girls when they stained their dresses during menstruation.

Nana Hemaa Adwoa Awindor, Executive Director, Obaapa Development Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation said her foundation would work to enhance the management of girls during their menstrual period.

She said research conducted by the Ghana Education Service stated that lack of menstrual hygiene management communication affected the performance of girls in school.

Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, Director-General of GES said his outfit attached great importance to adolescent sexual and reproductive health and called on parents to educate their wards before they experienced menstruation.