The Sunday News
Lackson Munkombwe
THE Ministry of Health and Child Care is trying to come up with strategies to ensure that sanitary ware is available to rural women after revelations that more than 60 percent of the women have no access to sanitary ware, resulting in some female pupils missing about five days of school a month.
Deputy Minister for Health and Child Care, Cde Aldrin Musiiwa said his ministry has received information from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development which shows that the situation needed attention.
“We received the information from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development. We are yet to verify the statistics but we are aware of the ongoing situation. People in rural areas are affected by poverty. Most of them cannot afford to buy these sanitary ware every month,” said Cde Musiiwa.
“We need to assist these young people to ensure that they attend school every day.”
Human rights activist and director for Real Open Opportunities for Transformation Support (ROOTS) Ms Beatrice Savadye said menstrual hygiene management should be prioritised at household and national level.
She, however, said sanitary ware was not being prioritised and things such as pads were not part of the shopping basket for many households especially for those living in rural areas where people are more focused on buying food.
“Girls end up using unhealthy alternatives such as old clothes that can cause reproductive tract infections in some instances,” said Ms Savadye.
