‘Sanitary Pad Price Hike, Threat To Girl-child Education’

A gender advocate, Sa’adatu Idris has called on the government at all levels and critical stakeholders to provide pad banks in secondary schools to enable girls to stay in school during and after their menstrual cycle.

Idris, who made the call during sensitisation to secondary schools in Kaduna on “Empowering Young Minds towards Tackling Procrastination and Menstrual Hygiene Challenges” with support from Participatory Communication for Gender Development (PAGED) Initiative and funded by MALALA funds, lamented the high cost of sanitary pads in Nigeria.

She said the high cost of sanitary pads, aided by economic hardship and poverty, is a serious threat to girl-child education in Nigeria.

Idris noted that the high cost of sanitary pads may expose Nigerian teenage girls to infections and infertility.

She stressed the need to introduce re-usage pads to tackle the challenges.

She said, “Menstrual pads are no longer affordable for our girls and women, which has posed a major threat to girl-child education and increasing out-of-school children in the north and across the country”.

Idris also reiterated the need for the government at all levels to provide pad banks in secondary schools.

She said that every girl has the fundamental right to live and succeed, and nobody should deny her these rights.