AHF Nigeria working to end stigma on periods for women, girls

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

As governments loosen COVID-19 restrictions around the world, people who menstruate are back to their various endeavors, all while attempting to manage their periods. This Menstrual Health Day (MH Day), join AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) in helping to create a new normal by working to #EndTheStigma on periods for women and girls of reproductive age who menstruate!

A statement issued yesterday by Steve Aborisade, Advocacy & Marketing Manager, for AHF said, “Of the more than 1.8 billion people globally who menstruate, 500 million are denied access to safe facilities and sanitary products that provide healthy ways to manage their periods. The shortages and inflation caused by COVID-19 have also made purchasing hygiene products significantly more difficult worldwide. The lack of access causes women and especially young girls who menstruate hardships, including missing several school days of their schoolyear, depression due to stigma and discrimination and, greater risk of infections due to embracing unsafe alternatives.”

MH Day is recognized worldwide on May 28 and was first launched by advocates in 2014 to highlight the importance of menstrual health management education that empowers all people who menstruate to fully participate in society and live a healthy, self-determined life. AHF country teams have exciting and informative “End the Stigma” commemorative MH Day events planned for 2022!

In Nigeria, AHF-Nigeria will be with girls at the School for the Deaf, Kuje and Deaf Girls Integrated in GSS Kuje, Abuja, to ensure inclusivity and as a way to enhance disability rights as we highlight the importance of menstrual health management education with a marginalized group and instigate effort that ensures girls with disability won’t be left behind. Aside of providing Menstrual Hygiene education to these girls, AHF shall also provide free supplies of sanitary pads to the girls. will be made at the event as well as education on Menstrual Health Management.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Women Affairs, AHF Nigeria is also airing an educative jingle in radio stations in Abuja and Benue state to ensure the messages of menstrual hygiene can reach as many girls as possible.

‘’AHF Nigeria is committed to working with her partners and government as a sign of responsibility to strive and ensure that we make free sanitary pads available to young women and girls who can’t afford it. We acknowledge how the lack of access can increase the risks of HIV infection and how it disrupts their education, and to us this is unacceptable,” said Dr Echey Ijezie, AHF Nigeria Country Program Director.

“As long as we allow stigma and taboos to exist around periods, people who menstruate will be labeled as ‘other’ and held back from reaching their full potential,” said Guillermina Alaniz, AHF Director of Global Advocacy and Policy. “A substantial percentage of the global population menstruates – and we owe it to them to ensure governments guarantee access to free or affordable hygiene products and adequate facilities for menstrual health management. It’s 2022, not 1922 – the time has come for the world to ‘End the Stigma’ around menstruation!”