“These challenges affect not only the girls here, but also their emotional, physical and biological well-being.
“Hence, a day out with the girls was created to discuss and teach proper menstrual care for the girls in Oyo State.”
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Mrs Tamunominini Makinde, wife of Oyo State’s Gov. Seyi Makinde, has facilitated a training for 100 secondary school girls on ways of maintaining menstrual hygiene.
The girls, who were selected from the state’s 33 Local Government Areas (LGAs), were jointly trained by Mrs Makinde’s office and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs.
The tagged “A Day out with the Girls of Oyo State” and held in Ibadan on Wednesday had the theme ” Your menstrual hygiene matters”.
The event was used to commemorate the “Menstrual Hygiene Day” which usually hold every July 19.
Mrs Makinde in her speech at the occasion noted that menstrual hygiene was surrounded by silence and embarrassment.
“But it is time to break the silence, address the embarrassment and teach our girls how to take care of themselves.”
She however lamented the fact that menstrual hygiene was still a significant challenge for some girls in Nigeria.
Mrs Makinde pointed out this was due to lack of access to good sanitary pads, clean public toilets and menstrual hygiene management, among others.
“These challenges affect not only the girls here, but also their emotional, physical and biological well-being.
“Hence, a day out with the girls was created to discuss and teach proper menstrual care for the girls in Oyo state,” she said.
The governor’s wife said the day’s teaching was about how girls could care for themselves during a period that is essential to their overall well-being, education and self confidence.
She told the girls at the event that there was no shame learning about their menstrual cycle, the change in their body and how to track their period.
Mrs Makinde expressed her happiness with the fact that the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs was at the training.
“I hope they will work with school authorities to ensure that girls have clean toilets, changing rooms and others in various schools in Oyo state.”
She enjoined parents and guardians to join her on breaking the silence and stigma surrounding menstruation.
“Ensure they get educated and break the silence of menstrual challenges by talking to their parents, guardians and trusted family members and share their experience and concern,” the governor’s wife said.
She however appealed to teachers handling related subjects such as Biology and Health Science, as well as Counselling Officers, to teach the girls menstrual cycle hygiene and menstrual hygiene practice.
Mrs Makinde said teachers have to be role models for the girls and should create an enabling environment to teach the girls about menstrual hygiene.
She added that they also needed to protect them from persons who might not understand the challenges they were going through during their menstruation.
“Parents and guardians should also support in breaking the silence and stigma surrounding this message by talking to them about menstrual cycle and share their experiences with them, which can motivated them to seek help when needed.”
Mrs Makinde commended Gov. Makinde for his support towards the success of the programme.
She similarly expressed her gratitude to the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs for donating 3,000 reusable sanitary pads for the participants.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Woman Affairs, Mrs Monilola Udoh, in her remarks said research has shown that some girls missed school due to lack of sanitary items.
“About 52 million women and young girls experience menstruation with almost 70 percent of them with no access to sanitary pads.
“One in 10 girls missed school, like 48 days in a year, due to lack of information and access to safe sanitary products and clean water.
“Cultural and religious reasons, shame, stigma and misinformation surrounding menstruation are contributing factors to serious human rights concerns for women and girls.
“These make them vulnerable to gender discrimination, child marriages, exclusion, violence, poverty and untreated health problems which have devastating effect not only in terms of their educational development.”
Udoh also pointed out that research also shows that girls, while they are more brilliant than boys, suffer a hindrance when they reach their menstrual age.
”Menstruation hinders them from doing well in school. This is because they may not even go to school for five days when they are menstruating,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary added that good hygiene and exercise were also part of the solutions to challenges of menstruation.
