UNICEF CHAMPIONS CAMPAIGN ON MENSTRUAL HYGIENE AMONG THE GIRL CHILD

REPORTER: MIRIAM ESONWUNE

Guest on Media link a Radio Nigeria Enugu Live Interactive programme, have called on government and stakeholders to make Water, Sanitation and Hygiene facilities and sanitary products accessible to the girl child for menstrual hygiene.

They made the call while speaking on the 2022 Menstrual Hygiene Day.

Contributing to the programme, the Water Sanitation and Hygiene Specialist UNICEF Enugu, Mr. Timi Kiakubu, stated that issue of menstrual hygiene should be a collective task in the family and the society.

Mr. Kiakubu noted that UNICEF was collaborating with the government and relevant stakeholders to ensure that policies and facilities were put in place for a safe environment, not only for the girls but the society at large.

Also a girl child Activist and Educator, Miss Chidinma Ibemere, observed that because of poverty, most girls were unable to uphold menstrual hygiene but if the needed facilities were readily available, these young girls would enjoy their teens.

Miss Ibemere urged parents to be more conscious to educate their girl child more on the onset of puberty, noting that if they were well informed, it would help to build confidence in them and they would never fall into wrong hands.

Another guest on the programme, Community Mobilization Officer, Water Sanitation and Hygiene, Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area, Mrs. Dorathy Nnamuchi, noted that lack of awareness and strong campaign on menstrual hygiene made some people and some culture to be in dark on the importance of menstrual hygiene cycle of the girl child.

Mrs. Nnamuchi called on the government and stakeholders to match words with action to see that menstrual hygiene is enthroned in the society.

Callers to the programme commended UNICEF for the initiative, urging government to ensure that sanitary products were made cheap and readily available especially in schools.