Upper West NDC women’s wing supports school girls with sanitary pads
The women’s wing of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has presented sanitary pads to about 400 school girls in five districts of the Upper West region.
The gesture is to help manage their monthly periods safely, hygienically, and without shame, as part of the activities of the women’s wing to commemorate this year’s Menstrual Hygiene Day, which was marked on May 28, 2023.
The beneficiaries were girls from Manwe JHS in the Wa East district, Taniana JHS in Wa West, St. Dominic JHS in Nadowli-Kaleo, D/A JHS in Daffiama-Busie-Issa, and Catholic JHS in Wa Municipal.
The group also reached out to some girls at the Wa Secondary Technical Senior High School.
Prisca Domanyevii Kuupol Bagonluri, the Upper West regional women’s organizer of the NDC, led a team to present the items to the girls on behalf of the women’s wing of the party.
She took the opportunity to advise the girls on menstrual hygiene and admonished them to take issues of their menstrual flow seriously.
Speaking to the media after the presentation at the Wa Secondary Technical Senior High School, Madam Prisca called on the government to scrap all taxes on the importation of menstrual products to enable women and girls, in particular, to buy them during their menstrual cycle.
“I am calling on the government to consider scrapping income and import taxes on sanitary pads in the country. This is because these taxes are making it extremely difficult for young girls, especially in this part of the country, to buy pads because of the hikes in prices. Some girls are compelled to give themselves out to men just to have money to buy these pads. So if the taxes are scrapped, prices will be reduced to levels that our young girls can afford.”
Some of the girls complained that they are compelled to use paper, handkerchiefs, toilet rolls, and other materials to manage their menstrual flow because they do not have money to buy sanitary pads.
One of the girls, Tarlet Maaduwondon Mery, decried that some of her colleagues usually leave the school on the blind side of their teachers to go and sleep with men in order to have money to buy sanitary pads.
“For some of us, it is very difficult to get them. It is only a few of us whose parents manage to get them for us. There are girls in the school who will go to their boyfriends to get money to buy pads.”
The Senior House Mistress of Wa Technical Senior High School, Mrs. Gertrude Akeane Dery, confirmed the claims made by the girl and appealed to the government to reduce or scrap the taxes and any other barriers preventing women from easily accessing menstrual pads in the country.
The post Upper West NDC women’s wing supports school girls with sanitary pads appeared first on Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana.
Read Full StoryAdvertise Here contact ads[@]ghheadlines.com
