Published on 30/05/2022

Ending menstrual insecurity

World Menstrual Hygiene Day was held on 28 May 2022. All over the world, events were organised to raise awareness about menstruation and to find solutions to the problems of women and girls.

ENDA Santé, together with its partners, supports these initiatives and makes its contribution through the Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health (AYRH) project, for which it provides services and capacity building for community actors.

At the national level, progress has been made in removing taboos. Several initiatives have been implemented but, despite the efforts made, menstruation is still a subject that is rarely discussed in the family and school spheres. And when this topic is addressed in schools, it is inappropriate, incomplete and limited to biological aspects.

The only thing I learned about menstruation is that as soon as a girl sees it, she becomes a woman, and is ready for marriage.

This shows the low level of knowledge about menstruation, especially among adolescents and young girls. It also shows the belief that the appearance of menstruation in a girl means that she is capable of becoming pregnant.

For others, the onset of menstruation is synonymous with reclusion. They shut themselves away at home. It is not that they do not want to go outside the family - to the market, to school, to factories and other public places - but it is because they do not have adequate sanitary facilities for washing and personal hygiene.

1400 hygiene kits distributed by ENDA Santé in Sédhiou

The management of menstrual hygiene is therefore a real problem that affects almost all women and girls. All women may have been confronted, at some point, with menstrual insecurity which can appear in various forms: lack of information, absence of adequate sanitary facilities in public spaces, harmful traditional beliefs associated with menstruation and difficulty in accessing quality sanitary protection materials.

This is why the international community organises an annual day dedicated to menstrual hygiene management. The aim is to discuss these issues, to tell the story of the difficulties faced by girls and women, to advocate for the removal of taboos and to find answers.

ENDA Santé is working in this direction. In Mbour and Sédhiou, through 20 rural and urban communes, interventions are regularly carried out. With its implementing partners, the NGO ENDA Santé participates in the education of girls on the subject of menstrual hygiene management and offers hygiene kits to young girls, adolescents and in particular vulnerable girls.

More than 1,400 hygiene kits have been distributed by ENDA Sante as part of the SANSAS project in the Sédhiou region, with adolescent girls being the direct beneficiaries.

On the management of menstrual hygiene, ENDA Santé, through its interventions, in collaboration with the midwives of the districts concerned, explains to the beneficiaries the offer with the different packages of services proposed. However, it attaches particular importance to the use of adequate hygiene materials. This communication is often done during the talk sessions or during the counselling with the target group during clinical visits.

We were received by the SANSAS project as part of the consultation activities and the provision of hygiene kits at the Adolescent Counselling Centre (ACC). Previously, young girls used pieces of cloth during their menstruation due to lack of financial means and this can be a source of infection. Today, we have received free sanitary pads and the midwives have clearly explained to us how to use them during our periods and we are advocating for the continuation of these activities.

Mame Diarra Sambou, a young girl leader at the Adolescent Counselling Centre in Sédhiou. 

Our school is made up of 95% girls, so such interventions are to be welcomed because the girls tend to be absent for the most part during their menstrual period or to leave the room in the middle of class for lack of sanitary towels, and when we say Sédhiou, we mean the poverty line. So we are appealing for such interventions to be sustainable.

Mrs Diatta, teacher and coordinator of the gender unit at the vocational training centre of Sédhiou.
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