By Cecelia Leelai Wingbah (student)
The Public Health Initiative Liberia (PHIL) and partners have launched its National Campaign on Menstrual Health & Hygiene Management in commemoration of the World Menstrual Hygiene day.
The launch which was held at the Ministry of Health in Congo Town over the weekend is intended to make menstrual health and hygiene management a national priority as means of raising awareness on the importance of good menstrual hygiene management worldwide.
Notably, the launching of the campaign which is a one year project brought face-to-face representatives from the government of Liberia, Community Healthcare Initiative, YWCA, WaterAid, Help a Mother and Newborn Liberia and Healthy life.
Delivering the keynote address, WaterAid Country Director, Chuchu Kordor Selma highlighted that Menstruation has to be accepted as means to support their females’ counterpart and fight against period poverty.
According to him, menstruation should not be seen as a taboo, rather it is a normal function of a woman’s body, something he said is the only way of getting children as such, making sanitary pad affordable by the removing of taxes on the products cannot be overemphasized.
He further emphasized that men should help break the barrier, get rid of the taboo and raise awareness for the importance of a good menstrual health and hygiene, noting that it presents a critical pathway for gender equality and female empowerment.
“In the absence of menstrual health education and cultural acceptance, menstruating women and adolescent girls are denied from reaching their full potential. So it is important that awareness also be made to younger girls that haven’t started seeing their period,” he stressed.
Mr. Selma then called on other partners to coordinate properly and strengthen the advocacy on Menstrual Health & Hygiene Management at a national level.
Earlier, giving the overview of the launch, PHIL Project Coordinator, Zowah Nenyeah stated, “This project is from silence to speaking out, and campaign to break silence around menstruation and a call for increased investment in menstrual health awareness because women and girls in Liberia face serious challenges in managing their period.”
She said the myth, stigma and harmful gender norms around menstruation make it difficult for women and girls in urban and rural Liberian communities to lively interact freely amongst their male counterpart.
According to her, many girls grow up into reproductive age with the fear and anxiety due to lack of knowledge and the resources about changes occurring in their body, poor menstrual hygiene management including lack of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) and lastly limited social, cultural and religious practices that can negatively impact the extent to which they enjoy certain right.
Madam Nenyeah added, “Some of these challenges are lack of awareness, cost intensive for pads, harmful gender norms, Myths and false information about menstrual periods as well as stigmatization and limited opportunities and sector communication and stakeholder engagement.”
Others are “Weak institutional and human capacity to formulate and implement the MH. The silence around menstruation further worsens the challenges in accessing sanitary products which prevent them from procuring from their counterparts.
In remark also, Community Healthcare Initiative representative read a petition crafted at the end of the launch and called for women and girls to have access to menstrual products that available and accessible.
The participants in their petition also pleaded with President George M. Weah to issue an executive order to suspend all taxes and import duties on sanitary pads.
The participants in their petition further want the National legislature to allocate funds toward comprehensive Sexual Education and Sexual reproductive health in the next annual budget.
They, at the same called on the Ministry of Education to ensure SRH is taught in all schools and that all schools should have access to sanitary pads in their bathrooms.
