On this edition of Dreamcity with Tobore and Itunu, the project director of Team Coby who had been involved in advocacy for girl child menstrual equality shared insights on menstrual hygiene.

One of the challenges in low-income areas is the knowledge gap is very obvious, so one of the things you will want to do is to bridge the knowledge gap. It could be through direct advocacy, social or behavioral change communication so that at the end of the day you can get across to the community you really want to get across to and you will see the impact effectively.

Adeniyi has been involved with girls in communities and even schools in low-income communities enlightening them about menstrual hygiene and education using social and behavioral change communication.

There are several sustainable menstrual materials (reusable menstrual kits) that can be used by any woman globally. There is the menstrual cups, tappoons, and reusable sanitary pads. Every woman will have to decide the one they want. Every female decided which best suits these options which has no negative impact on the environment. 

Both the reusable and the disposable are used the same way, the benefit is for the environment in terms of reducing pollution, disposable pads contain chemicals and toxins that will contaminate our water. A lot of people don’t have access to portable water, they drink directly from streams.

Another benefit is the economic friendliness. The woman can save as much as 70% of the cost expended on disposable menstrual kits if she adopts the reusable ones.

There is also the security aspect, there had been reports of people scavenging for used pads or ladies being kidnapped and forced to remove their pads which ended up becoming materials for rituals. 

There is a barrier that comes with having a man talk about menstruation, knowledge gap is the major cause of girls being victims because fathers and mothers are not engaging their children. The angle where the father will take it from is quite different from the angle of the mother but both males and females can enlighten them to bring awareness about this menstrual hygiene.

Male students shame female students because of their menstrual stains. Menstrual hygiene, period poverty education, and awareness should not just be restricted to girls. If we run the advocacy across the board, this challenge will reduce rapidly. 

There is this cultural barrier where while trying to engage the girls, they will lock up if a boy is present but when you separate them, they open up, so we sensitize them differently. For the boys, we let them know of the peculiarities of the growth compared to ladies and then how they can help their sisters, to have understanding, and show care and support. For the girls, we teach them how to take care of themselves to avoid shame. Ideally, you should change every five hours but with this economy, people do 10 hours, that’s the poverty level.