Don’t allow menstruation to limit your educational progress, girls urged

Teenage girls have been cautioned not to allow the monthly cycle of blood flow to limit their academic life, as menstruation is not a disease but part of the human development.

Many girls in the puberty stage and undergoing menstruation are known to have abandoned school due to the lack of confidence in themselves to properly manage the process and the fear of soiling their clothes in class.

Again, lack of support from parents for girls in this stage coupled with mockery from the male colleagues in the event that the girl-child soiled herself during this period places a hindrance in the academic life of such children who may absent themselves throughout the five to seven day menstrual cycle.

Mohammmed Abdul Salam, the Sekondi/Takoradi Coordinator for the Global Communities, said this during the celebration of this year’s "World Menstrual Day".

The Day was marked with girls and boys of the Anaji M/A Basic and Junior High School together with other schools.

“You should not allow menses to stop you from your quest of happiness, high education or anything that would enhance your development…this is part of the normal human development.”

Mr Salam said women made the world and without them, it would be impossible for men to live…. “You are Mother Nature and you make the world beautiful, all you need to do is to practice proper and good hygiene in the period and you are good to go”.

"Menstrual Hygiene Day is a global advocacy day to increase awareness on challenges women and girls worldwide face due to menstruation and highlight solutions that could address the challenges".

The theme: “No More Limits”, was chosen to break the silence and build awareness about the fundamental role that good menstrual hygiene management plays in enabling women and girls to manage their menstruation in a hygienic way in private, safety and dignity.

Mrs Henrietta Quabu, the Metropolitan Girl-Child Coordinator of the Ghana Education Service, said there is the need for society to smash the taboos surrounding menstruation.

“We can achieve this when the girl-child is resourced to manage the period well in order to improve their health, self-esteem, education and their holistic economic development”, she said.

Mrs Quabu said ancient history did not understand why women bled without any hurt but in modern world, knowledge has explained the process as women bled because an egg which could become a (Human) could not get a sperm to fertilize so it dies and passes out as blood every month.

“Often menstruation was completely omitted from man’s documented history and relegated to the women’s world…and today there are still girls and women who are shy to talk about this natural process…we indeed need to break the limits and talk about it and support women and girls in the process”.

Ms Marian Borden, a Public Health Nurse at the Kwesimintsim Hospital, urged girls to be proud to menstruate since that signified their womanhood and ability to have children.

She said girls in this stage must not use one sanitary pad but regularly change them depending on the flow, eat well for more energy and freshness and bath regularly adding, “You also need to be active especially those of you that may experience pain…working increase the flow and stops the pain”.

Ms Borden said the longer usage of sanitary pads could expose the girl-child to infections and diseases.

She urged women and girls to be bold and confident in the process and ensure that they have friends to support them

The Metropolitan Director of Education, Reverend Mrs. Elizabeth Akouko, encouraged girls in the puberty stage to see menstruation as another means to an end.

“Do not allow menstruation to stop you from going to school, be determined and add value to yourself…you are the next generation of leaders of the country”.

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