Menstrual Health

Every Girl believes that no girl or woman should be without access to safe sanitary wear and that everybody should have a good understanding of women’s health. Unfortunately, many of those we work with in our local communities are having to make use of unsafe sanitary wear alternatives, increasing the risk of infections and impacting school attendance and many men have limited knowledge on these topics. Our brilliant team run regular trainings in communities, giving accurate information about women’s health to both men and women as well as training individuals how to make safe sanitary wear from items that they have accessible. We have also begun making period underwear to sell at very reduced prices to those in our communities, believing that women and girls should have access to the best supplies. So far, our team have reached over 1100 community members, training in hospitals, schools, universities and other community groups in 4 different districts. To read more about the Every Girl project, please see our website:

www.everygirlproject.org

With our wider menstrual health work, the health team have been working with schools in remote and hard to reach communities. Running trainings in menstrual health and pad making, for teachers and pupils, as well as opening specifically designed menstrual health toilets. These toilets have running water as well as essential supplies enabling students to maintain good hygiene, aiming to reduce days off school and infections, as well as ensuring that they have accurate information about how their bodies work and how to take care of themselves.

Rose lives in one of the slum communities around Mbale. She is a single mother and is really struggling to be able to afford food and other necessities for her family, as employment opportunities are very hard to come by. Sanitary pads are one vital item that Rose often finds is hard to buy for herself and for her three daughters. This meant that sometimes they were forced to go without using these much-needed hygiene supplies.

Rose attended the menstrual health education and pad training workshop held by our team in her community, and she learnt how to make her own pads. Rose really enjoyed the training and shared with our team that she had been training her daughters how to make the pads, and that they had been working so well, that she didn’t need to buy any pads any more. She said, “I have been wasting my money buying pads, I no longer need to buy any more. It has really helped me and this is why I have shared this knowledge and skill with my friends”.