By Santos Ojok

Lira City

Minister of Health Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, who also doubles as the woman member of Parliament for Lira City has launched the distribution of reusable sanitary pads to some few selected primary schools in Lango Sub-region. Dr. Aceng, used the event to call on the men to get involved in the promotion of menstrual hygiene management among girls in a bid to keep teenage girls at school.

The minister tasked teachers to sensitize boys about menstrual health to fight stigma against young girls during their menstruation periods. “If you don’t involve the young boys in this, we shall continue having problems in our families and school dropouts will continue, so we need to equip and skill the boy child as well because they are our future husbands. They should be made to know what we go through for example knowing things like menstruation. So, I want to appreciate Plan International for this”, Aceng said.

Jasper Abura, Lira City Education Officer observes that many adolescent girls always miss school when they are in their menstruation. “Most of them are not in position to attend schools, in fact they become prisoners of menstruation, you will find out that for 4 or 5 days the girl is at home because she can not afford the menstrual pads, some of these girls go to the extent of using rugs to protect themselves and in the end, they get infected”, Abura said.

Collin Mutinda, the Programs Manager Plan International which is funding the project pledged their commitment towards improving menstrual hygiene management among girls at schools. “between now and the end of August our target is to distribute seven thousand eight hundred sanitary pads, those are 7800 girls, and our objective is by the end of this year, we want to reach thirteen thousand girls in Lango sub region”, Mutinda added.

This project is being funded by Plan International under the program theme “I decide my body my future” is being implemented by Communication for Development Foundation Uganda, CDFU and Growth Care Uganda will see 13,000 reusable sanitary pads distributed to adolescent girls at primary schools in Lira City, Apac, Kole, Kwania, Lira and Alebtong Districts.

COVER PHOTO: Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, Minister of health launching the pads By Santos Ojok