We use handkerchiefs, tiolet rolls and others as sanitary pads – Girls at Atta Mills SHS

Some female students of John Evans Atta Mills Community Day Senior High School have disclosed that they use handkerchiefs, clothes, socks, and toilet rolls during their menstruation.

The students said they had to depend on using these items because sanitary pads have become expensive.

The students admitted that although the use of these items was unhealthy, they had no other choice.

These revelations came to light when the Founder and Executive Director of Fanthonio Foundation, Felicia Fanthonio, donated over 700 boxes of sanitary pads to Female Students of John Evans Atta Mills Senior High School at Ekumfi Otuam in the Ekumfi District of the Central Region.

Due to a lack of funds, the students prefer to use handkerchiefs, clothes, socks, and T-rolls during their menstruation period.

A student said "I either borrow from my friends or use toilet roll when I am menstruating. When my parents send me money, then I buy sanitary pads”.

Another said, "I cannot come to school when I am menstruating because my friends will laugh at me. I stay home because I cannot come to school while on my period”.

Some other students commended the NGO, saying the donation would go a long way to assist them.

They added that it would prevent absenteeism among adolescent girls, especially during their menstrual period.

In addition, Miss Doreen Dela, the Adolescent Health Coordinator of the J.E.A. Mills Senior High School, lamented that most female students usually stay home during their period due to inadequate money to buy sanitary pads.

She said some men take advantage of some of the girls who do not have the money to buy sanitary pads.

"We keep having problems of truancy occasionally within the girls. Imagine a girl can only afford a pack of sanitary pads for the whole month, but then they need two packs. So they will choose the days in the month to come to school when they are in their cycle. Sometimes as teachers, we can do nothing about that.”

She was optimistic the boxes of sanitary pads would last the beneficiaries months and reduce truancy.

The Executive Director of the NGO, for her part, stated that the donation was made to assist female students, particularly those who cannot afford to purchase sanitary pads.

She said the NGO raises funds to assist girls from deprived communities or homes with sanitary products.

The campaign to donate the sanitary products she revealed began in 2018, and it has since expanded to several regions, including the Eastern, Central, Greater Accra, and Volta Regions.