About 10,000 packs of reusable sanitary pads have been donated to girls in Lagos and Nigeria at large through Sanitary Pad Media Campaign, (SPMC), as part of a grand plan to alleviate period poverty, especially among vulnerable schoolgirls in low income and poor communities.
The NAFDAC- approved reusable sanitary pads, which value was put at about N15 million were donated by an investment advisory firm, through its impact wing, Diatom Impact, in Lagos, for distribution to rural and disadvantaged women and children.
Speaking at the event, the Managing Partner, Platform Capital, the parent company, Mr. Dolapo Ogunmekan, commended the SPMC for empowering less-privileged people on the continent with free sanitary pads in the last 12 months.
He expressed the company’s confidence and support for the SPMC’s initiative to which he said they are passionately committed, adding that SPMC’s Executive Director, Ms Anike-Ade Funke Treasure, has a track record of sincerity and integrity, and pledged the company’s support to the project to enable her to sustain it not only in Nigeria but also on the African continent.
In her response, the Convener of the Sanitary Pad Campaign, Funke Treasure, said the donation would go a long way in ensuring that disadvantaged girls in Nigeria and some parts of West Africa do not stay at home or miss classes during their menstrual cycle.
She lamented that the inability of many parents to purchase sanitary pads is both a social and human rights issue. “Period poverty is a problem that girls and women in underserved communities and urban centres have grappled with for years. Girls still use socks, leaves, rags and pieces of cloth cut from wrappers to absorb the blood.
“A large number of them use bushes as change spaces during their periods because there are no toilets in schools. Otherwise, they drop out of school and return after their periods. Some don’t make it back to school. The Sanitary Pad Media Advocacy Campaign is anchored on Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development goals which focuses on gender equality.
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“It seeks to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences.”
She stated that in March, this year, her organisation held a roundtable in Ajegunle, Ajeromi Ifelodun Area of Lagos, with the mothers of the girls on her Sanitary Pad Scholarship Scheme and their neighbours to introduce them to menstrual cups and tampons and to create awareness about period-related health conditions. It was in commemoration of International Women’s Day.
Ms Funke Treasure commended the partnership effort of the donors at ensuring that no girl child is left behind in getting qualitative education because of period poverty.
She thanked the CEO of Platform Capital, Dr Akintoye Akindele, and the management of Diatom Impact, for the huge donation which she said came at a time the SPMC is pivoting to a more sustainable alternative to disposable pads.
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