FEATURED: AHF, partners on campaign to lessen stigma, empower women, girls in menstrual hygiene management

Stigma, lack of education, and limited resources hinder girls from managing their periods well. This impacts their health, education, and overall well-being. To tackle this issue, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) Rwanda, in collaboration with Rwanda NGOs Forum on HIV/AIDS and Health Promotion (RNGOF), Empower Rwanda, Afro Ark, and SAYE Company organized a weeklong campaign to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and empower women and girls to prioritize their menstrual health for better well-being. The campaign that concluded on May 28 marked as ‘Menstrual Hygiene Day’, facilitated panel discussions that emphasized promoting positive masculinity and advocating for accessibility, availability and affordability of menstrual products to provide a more durable and sustainable solution. Some speakers highlighted the major challenges that women and girls encounter, including limited or no information preceding the onset of menstruation, insufficient health education on menstruation and puberty, and the impact of proper menstruation practices on hygiene and health for women, among other things. Other challenges highlighted were the lack of social support from peers who bury them, teachers, colleagues, and family, to manage menstruation in schools. Vestine Mukeshimana, the Country Director at WaterAid Rwanda, noted that there is a problem of insufficient access to water, sanitation, hygiene materials, and disposal facilities for women and girls, not only in villages but also in Kigali. “Without water and sanitation, mensuration can’t be healthy as it can attract infections,” she said. Dr Julius Kamwesiga, the Medical Director of AHF, said that several girls drop out of school due to stigma, thus missing out on opportunities. He, therefore, mentioned the need to join efforts to eliminate stigma and empower girls in their menstrual hygiene management. World Bank statistics indicate that at least 20 per cent of Rwandan school-going girls, particularly in rural areas, miss up to 50 school days per year. According to the SHE28 campaign, these absences represent a potential loss of GDP of up to US$215 per woman each year, a total of US$115 million per year in Rwanda. The Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) campaign addresses girls’ and women’s lack of access to affordable menstrual pads, causing significant high costs to their health, education, productivity, and dignity. “We should create and foster a culture of acceptance to gender bodily-related issues and positively embrace diversity in communities and society to change attitudes and norms, and decrease gender gaps,” Dr Kamwesiga stated. He stressed the need for behavioral change and urged boys and men to take the lead in being agents of change, by supporting girls and women instead of shaming them, and most importantly, creating an environment safe for girls and women to speak and celebrate menstruation period. A panel of speakers challenged cultural norms and attitudes around menstruation. Low self-esteem and Mental health issues are triggered by the shame associated with menstruation. Hence empowering women and girls to advocate for their rights and menstrual health is what needs to be done. AHF, under their program “Girls Act program aiming at Keeping Girls in School”, provides cutting-edge medicine, advocacy, and policy change partnered with organizations and encourages policymakers to implement laws in favor of girls and women in proper health and hygiene. In 2019, the government of Rwanda announced the removal of menstrual period product Value added taxes, but the costs haven’t been reduced to an affordable level yet. A pack of sanitary pads goes for Rwf600-1,000 which is not affordable to a woman or girl in the village,” Dr Kamwesiga said. He highlighted that young girls are involved in transactional sex to afford pads and other requirements, which has resulted in unwanted teenage pregnancies, HIV, and other sexually transmitted diseases. He noted that AHF plans to provide more menstrual products and expand the girls' program in more schools & continue advocating for cost subsidization, most especially in the villages, to bridge the gap of scarcity.

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FEATURED: AHF, partners on campaign to lessen stigma, empower women, girls in menstrual hygiene management