Approximately 3,800 Class 8 and Form 4 candidates in Teso North subcounty will receive one year supply of reusable sanitary pads.
The pilot programme championed by businessman and philanthropist Samson Owino was launched at Malaba Primary School on Monday where 102 Class 8 candidates received sanitary pads and panties.
More girls in Class 8 and Form 4 in Teso North will receive the reusable products before candidates seat for their exams in March next year, Owino said.
Besides the sanitary towels, Owino said motivational and career guidance talks will be organised for the candidates across the constituency.
The talks, he said, are geared towards ensuring the candidates receive encouragement ahead of their exams.
The reusable sanitary towels are produced by Afripads, an organisation seeking to improve menstrual health for millions of girls across the world.
“This is a programme that will run until we achieve parity between boys and girls in Teso North constituency,” Owino said on Tuesday in an interview.
“I am calling upon other stakeholders and local leaders with the same agenda to eliminate stigmatisation that is associated with menstrual health and hygiene, to contribute towards this noble cause so that we are able to help the girl child in Teso North.”
Owino said many families in Teso North are poor and cannot afford sanitary towels for their girls every month.
He said the reusable pads will go a long way in ensuring beneficiaries do not miss classes during their menstrual cycle.
“We all know that menstrual health comes with its disadvantages to the girl child and I would like to call on other stakeholders in the education sector to join hands and advance this cause so that we ensure no girl skips school because they lack sanitary pads,” he said.
“The economy of Teso North is still weak and you will find that there are many parents who cannot afford to buy sanitary pads at the end of every month.”
He called on the county government to embrace the initiative and engage local leaders in embracing it.
Owino also proposed the passage of a Bill at the County Assembly which will allocate money for acquisition of sanitary towels for school going girls.
“A sanitary pad is a basic need for girls. For now we are targeting girls in Class 8 and Form 4 because they are the most vulnerable as they are advanced in terms of age,” he said.
The Malaba primary school alumnus said in the long-run, local leaders should think of establishing a sanitary towels manufacturing plant in the constituency to produce the pads locally. This, he said, will also create employment opportunities to residents.
The programme, he said, has not abandoned the boy child.
“Besides the pads programme, we are also giving out footballs to boys and food to boost local schools’ feeding pprogramme especially for Class 8,” Owino said.
Available data shows that approximately one million Kenyan girls miss school every month because they cannot afford to buy sanitary pads.
Some girls also share used pads due to their inability to buy the product.
Research by the Ministry of Education shows that girls experiencing menstrual cycles miss school for about four days a month. This is approximately 14 days of each term.
-Edited by SKanyara
