The Women’s Commissioner of the Bissa Development Association (BDA) has on the occasion of World Menstrual Hygiene Day, appealed to the men to show care by supporting the females with sanitary products.
Madam Kalariba Dora Sewuni, who works at the Adolescent Focal Person of the Ghana Health Service in Bolgatanga, believes women and girls in their period need more supports from their male relatives.
She is in charge of women affairs at the BDA with vast experience in health issues having served as District Health Director in the Upper East.
Her clarion call for sanitary pad support comes on a day the World is celebrating the Menstrual Hygiene Day.
Availability and cost of sanitary pads have posed challenges for some women and girls in some African countries while awareness regarding menstrual hygiene, especially in the rural area of the country is still an issue.
In an official statement issued on Friday, the BDA WOCOM also advised the females to maintain personal and environmental hygiene.
“As we celebrate this day, I call upon Father’s, Uncles, Brothers, Husbands and Sons to support a woman or girl with a pad to show they care and support them in the time of their month, ” the statement read.
“To our women and girls, remember to keep both personal and environmental cleanliness. “As women and girls it’s our responsibility to do so.”
The World Menstrual Hygiene Day is celebrated all over the world on 28 May with an aim to raise awareness and change negative stigmas and norms surrounding menstruation and menstrual hygiene.
This is so that all women, young and old, can feel empowered to manage their periods with confidence, hygienically and without any embarrassment.
The theme for this year is: “Action and Investment in Menstrual Hygiene and Health.”
The United Nations, in a statement, describes Menstrual Health as Human Right.
For some females, menstruation is an easy-peasy phase they pass through every month but for others, it is a herculean task owing to systems put in place by various governments in their respective countries.
In every second of every minute of every day, like clockwork, there is a woman and girl having her period.
For most of them, menstruation carries inconvenience, stigma, shame and lack of confidence, a difficult situation the BDA WOCOM says will take the support of the males to solve.