The ManicaPost
Phillipa Mukome-Chinhoi Post Correspondent
The economic environment in the country has been challenging with the prices of many basic commodities becoming unaffordable for most families. The prices of sanitary pads and other menstrual hygiene products have not been spared. Despite the removal of taxes on these products, they have become unaffordable to most women and girls.
For years, girls in rural areas were missing school during their menstrual cycle as they had nothing to use. This meant that most girls had to resort to using unhygienic alternatives such as tissue paper and dirty rags to take care of their menstrual flow.
In some cases, those who had access to limited quantities of pads, would go for eight hours or more without changing the pads, which is unhygienic and could have serious health consequences.
All these challenges have had an effect on the girls’ overall performance in school.
The First Lady, Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa through her Angel of Hope Foundation is now manufacturing reusable sanitary pads in a development expected to ease the plight of women and girls.
The First Lady’s initiative is meant to empower women and girls, to promote good menstrual hygiene management.
This initiative will go a long way in assisting the underprivileged young girls and women and will make life easier for them.
Those who have not been able to afford sanitary wear before, will now access the reusable pads which are cheaper and last longer.
The result?
No more missing school during their periods!
So far 15 women drawn from different parts of the country have been trained on how to make reusable pads through an organization called Mazuva which has partnered with The Angel of Hope Foundation.
In an interview, Saliwe Zakariya, director of Talia Women’s Network, said in some rural schools they had visited, female teachers bear the brunt of this challenge as they sometimes tried to provide menstrual hygiene products for the girls to use from their own resources.
“We know of a case where the teacher resorted to tearing up her old sheets to give the girls cloths to use,”she said.
She said Talia Network believed in collaborative approaches to dealing with problems.
This was echoed by some teachers who believed the intervention by the First Lady was a step in the right direction.
Mrs Mpofu, a teacher from Mabvuku had this to say: “The First Lady has done a great thing to the nation and we greatly appreciate it, girls were missing lessons because they could not afford to buy pads. Their parents preferred to buy food for the home first rather than pads,” she said.
The removal of taxes by the government was an important first step but most of the menstrual hygiene products on the supermarket shelves are imported and hence the movement in prices was not significant.
Nyaradzo Mashayamombe, executive director for Tag A Life International (TALI) said Finance Minister MthuliNcube should consider assisting manufacturers of sanitary wear with foreign currency to import materials.
“Pads should be viewed the same as condoms because they are both a fundamental need for everyone. Condoms are going for 30cents yet the materials are also imported, ZUPCO is going for 50c but the fuel is also imported. As women, we have suffered enough. Everyone was born by a woman! And for a woman to have children, she should have her monthly periods,” she said.
Mashayamombe also thanked the First Lady for her initiative which she said would lessen the burden while the Government is working on other sustainable solutions.
Saliwe Zaranyika also hailed the use of reusable sanitary pads.
“There is need to encourage local production of sanitary pads and also to pursue alternative products for women and girls to use such as reusable sanitary pads like what the First Lady has done.
“These are hygienic and environmentally friendly as the users do not have to worry about disposal and can be used for up to 18 months with proper care,” she said.
Experts believe Government should create a plant to manufacture both reusable and disposable pads so that women can make choices on what they want to use.
They say that by not using pads due to lack of finances, women and girls were losing their productive time as they are ‘inactive’ for at least 4 days a month.
When the girls miss school, it affects their overall performance and they are unable to pursue their dreams. Women also lose productive time which they can be engaging in income generating activities to cater for themselves and their families.
Girls might also become vulnerable and fall victim to sexual exploitation so that they get money to buy hygiene products.
This opens the door to many other issues such as high rates of STIs and unwanted pregnancies.
Using cloths during the menstrual cycle is not alien to our culture. Generations before us used to rely on cloths as well. It only becomes a challenge when there is lack of water to wash the cloths. So any intervention on menstrual hygiene should also include water and sanitation issues.
The cloths need to be washed frequently and they have to be clean to avoid the spread of infections and other health concerns.
As we promote the use of reusable cloth pads, women and girls should be educated on the proper care and use of the pads including washing them thoroughly and having them dry completely before being worn.
