FAILURE by women and girls to access basic menstrual hygiene products and services perpetuate health risks and deprives them of socioeconomic opportunities.
Speaking during a media engagement held in Gweru on Wednesday, Midlands provincial medical director Mary Muchekeza said period poverty exposed vulnerable girls to HIV infection because of transactional sex.
“Lack of access to sanitary pads forces most of them to miss school increasing the likelihood of dropping out,” she said.
“This, therefore, leads to transactional or trans-generational sex, limiting their ability to negotiate safe sex and raising the risk of acquiring HIV, sexually transmitted illnesses and in the long run even cervical cancer.”
The meeting was organised by Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF) in conjunction with the Health and Child Care ministry to commemorate Menstrual Health Day.
Menstrual Health Day is celebrated globally on May 28 to fight period poverty and end stigma surrounding menstrual health issues.
Muchekeza said period poverty was a critical global matter that demanded immediate attention as a public health concern.
“By prioritising menstrual health hygiene our communities can foster sustainable practices, promote human dignity and create a better future for everyone,” she said.
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“It is, therefore, of greatest essence that journalists exercise the power of the pen judiciously and truthfully in support of menstrual hygiene and health in general without sensationalising but in the spirit of advocacy for menstrual hygiene.”
AHF prevention programme manager Clever Taderera said the organisation planned to provide one million girls with free sanitary pads.
Taderera said in Manicaland province, AHF had already made interventions in the production of pads, where girls were trained and provided with machinery to manufacture sanitary wear.
This year’s Menstrual Health Day was commemorated under the theme Together for a Period Friendly World.
