REPORTER: PEACE AGBO
Abia school girls have benefitted from the 37,000 Renewed Hope Initiative, RHI, Flow with Confidence programme in Nigeria aimed at enhancing the dignity and confidence of schoolgirls.
Speaking at the Launch in Umuahia, the wife of the President Senator Oluremi Tinubu who distributed 10,000 packs of sanitary pads to schoolgirls from rural communities to promote menstrual health said RHI spent hugely to procure the customized disposable sanitary pads from indigenous manufacturer.
Senator Oluremi Tinubu who was represented by the Wife of Abia state Governor, Mrs Priscilla Otti, said that no girl should miss school because of her inability to afford sanitary products and described menstrual poverty as unacceptable in modern society.
She called on corporate organisations, parastatals, agencies, traditional and religious leaders to support the programme and monitor the distribution process in their communities.
For their parts, the Abia Commissioner for Health, Prof. Enoch Uche and the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Dr Maureen Aghaukwa all said that the programme marked a significant milestone in efforts to improve menstrual health and hygiene management among schoolgirls in the state.
In their separate lectures Dr Joy Okechukwu and Dr Theodora Igboruka, explained that menstrual health and hygiene affects the Sustainable Development Goals 6, 8 and 12, because it directly affected good health and wellbeing, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth
In an interview with newsmen, some beneficiaries, Miss Chiamaka Friday and Nmesoma Chigozie all thanked the first lady for the one-year supply of sanitary pad pack they received and also learnt valuable tips that would help them improve their menstrual hygiene management and boost their confidence.
The theme for the programme is “Empowering School Girls through Menstrual Health”.
