Melcom Foundation Supports Girls’ Menstrual Hygiene
Melcom Care Foundation has donated 100 cartons of sanitary pads to Touching the Lives of Girls Foundation International, a non-governmental organisation, for distribution to schools in the Volta and Ashanti regions.
The gesture is meant to support the promotion of menstrual hygiene among girls, particularly needy students, in the rural areas.
It is also to mark World Menstrual Hygiene Day which is celebrated on May 28 to highlight the importance of good menstrual hygiene management at a global level.
From the 100 cartons that make up 2,000 pieces of the sanitary pads, the beneficiary schools in Ho in the Volta Region and Obuasi in the Ashanti Region will receive 1,000 pieces each.
Menstrual hygiene
At a ceremony to present the materials, the Group Director of Communications, Melcom Group of Companies, Mr Godwin Avenorgbor, indicated that the lack of sanitary pads had forced young girls to absent themselves from school and sometimes to use unhygienic materials to prevent soiling themselves when they attended school.
“Melcom Care accepts without question that the female menstrual cycle is God’s design for the full attainment of quality female reproductive health, which cannot be ignored regardless of the financial status of the individual or family,” he said.
“Melcom is of the hope that this can relieve the hardship and expense of acquiring sanitary pads by needy school going children with its expected impact such as building their confidence and ensuring regular attendance to school without break,” he added.
Timely donation
The Chief Executive Officer of Touching the Lives of Girls Foundation International, Nana Ama Adutwumwaa, thanked Melcom Care Foundation for the gesture, promising that the materials would be distributed to the appropriate people.
She said her organisation was created in 2016 to educate young girls and women on the importance of healthy menstrual hygiene, to support them with sanitary pads, discourage the use of unhealthy materials, and to promote the overall personal health of girls and women.
“This donation will go a long way to encourage the girls to stay in school,” she said.
The Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police Effia Tenge, who was a special invitee to the function, commended both foundations, and urged them to extend the gesture to schools in other regions to prevent absenteeism among girls induced by the lack of sanitary pads.