A Senior Midwife of the Ghana Health Service, Madam Charity Azaare, has advocater a closer partnership among community leaders, school authorities and mothers of adolescent girls in school to prepare the girls psychologically, emotionally and logistically before they experience their first menstrual period.

Such a collaboration will greatly contribute to self-worth, self-awareness, eliminate stigmatization and engender better personal and environmental hygiene among girls when they reach puberty stage while avoiding some of the problems associated with the monthly period such as infections and unwanted pregnancies.

Some scenes from the ceremony

Madam Azaare, gave the advice during separate for a at Nintin and Hwidiem in the Mampong Municipality of the Ashanti region to mark this year’s ‘World Menstrual Day.”

The ‘World Menstrual Hygiene Day’ is commemorated every year to help create increased public education about the hygienic way to manage menstrual periods better to avoid contracting diseases including infections while facilitating access to heathier resources.

For the second
consecutive year, the Assembly Member for the Nintin Electoral Area in the Mampong Municipality of Ashanti, in partnership with Sunda International, helped basic schools at Nintin and Hwidiem to observe the Day which was marked across the world.

Separate fora were held for adolescent girl pupils and their female teachers.

Girls in upper primary and Junior High Schools as well as female teachers from all six basic schools in the two communities, namely the R/C Primary, M/A Junior High, Presby Primary and Junior High all at Nintin in addition to their counterparts from the Hwidiem M/A Primary and Junior High scholls, were taken through the female anatomy and why they must experience menstruation monthly.

A Midwife and Community Nurse took turns to take the participants through the most appropriate way to wear the sanitary pad to avoid embarrassment and contracting infections as well as how to dispose of the used pads.

Additionally, they were educated on how to keep themselves healthy during that period of the month.

They were also each given, at least two months’ supply of sanitary pads donated by Sunda International to support the celebration.

A Senior Midwife with the Mampong Municipal Health directorate, Madam Charity Azaare, called for a greater collaboration among mothers, school authorities and community leaders to prepare teenage girls mentally and materially even before experiencing their first menstruation so as to forestall the challenges that are usually associated with the stage including unwanted pregnancies.

“Their parents have to be involved because most of them, their parents don’t know know when their children start to menstruate. So even sometimes when they get pregnant, they don’t know because though they’re in the house but she doest know anything concerning her menstrual cycle”, she observed.

Mad. Azaare told the participants that each female’s menstrual flow varies from the other but ranges between 2 and 7 days. They should therefore not be too anxious show their period end before the 7th day.

The midwife was however quick to advise the, if they see any unusual occurrence with their bodies or menstruation, they must promptly report to either their teachers or parents for immediate medical examination to identify the reasons and solutions before any complications sets in.

The Assembly Member for the Nintin Electoral Area, Nicholas Osei-Wusu, explained that, mobilizing resources to support female teachers and adolescent girls in his Electoral Area during the World Menstrual Day is to help reduce the stigma, absenteeism and low self-esteem particularly the girl child suffer during her menstrual cycle.

Madam Charity Azaare,

He said, “it’d be worthwhile if we all get involved, especially as the leader of the Electoral Area. When they see you getting involved, the atimatization they sometimes face, the absenteeism, the poor academic performance associated with menstruation, these things they would do away with and that’s the objective I’ve set for myself.”

Mr. Osei-Wusu expressed appreciation to Sunda International and its Soft Care subsidiary for the logistical support offered to support the programme.

The Queen of Nintin, Nana Anoswah Okyekyerekuro, advised girls in school not to look down on themselves when they first experience the phenomenon since it is natural with every healthy female of their age.

She advised them also to adhere to proper personal and environmental hygiene during the period to reduce the incidences of sicknesses.

The Queen mother commended the Assembly Member for showing keen interest in the developmemt of the girl child and female teachers.

The Presiding Member of the Mampong Municipal Assembly, Daniel Oduro, described the initiative by the Nintin Assembly Member to support the female teachers and girl pupils with both education and pads as worthy of emulation by all members of the Municipal Assembly.

This year’s ‘World Menstrual Hygiene Day’ was observed on the theme: “#PeriodFriendlyWorld” to promote access to safe menstruation resources fro especially girls and also is to enhance access to safer resources for menstruation.