Engineer George Asiedu, the coordinator of Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) Sanitation Project, has expressed the project’s commitment to the plight of Menstruating Girl Child.
According to him, the GAMA Sanitation Project is designed for the weaker in society, and their sanitation, water, hygiene, and capacity building components are mostly designed for people living in low-income communities, and more specifically in low-income households.
Speaking at the commemoration of 2024 Menstrual Hygiene Day celebration at the Garden City Special School in the Asokore Mampong Municipality in the Ashanti region, on the theme, Period friendly able country, he stated that, they usually look beyond income levels and consider differently abled persons especially in their construction designs.
He disclosed that, over the past seven years, the GAMA Sanitation and Water Project, which is strongly supported by the World Bank, has provided 598 modern toilets in schools in the Greater Accra and the Ashanti Regions, which demonstrate their commitment to the plight of the menstruating girl child.
He noted that, it is in fact compulsory to designate a special changing room for them to safely manage their period with privacy and in dignity, at the same time, every school toilet that the project has provided has special chambers and access paths for people who are less able to walk, means that no one has to struggle to use any of their toilets.
The GAMA Sanitation and Water Project believes that every female person is bound to menstruate every month for close to forty years of their life, and also believe that menstruation, when properly managed, does not have to limit any girl, or any woman, or any differently abled female, from making a meaningful contribution to society and humanity as a whole.
Ingineer Asiedu observed that, in that regard, through their capacity building team, they have been working with experts to train many Municipal Assembly and other professionals on how best to reach out to menstruating girls with every possible support through awareness creation, skills development, and direct provision of menstrual hygiene materials to girls.
He said over the past two years, the project has facilitated the production and distribution of menstrual awareness materials for girls including those who are visually impaired, and also working with other stakeholders to set up a Pad Bank, where philanthropists and institutions can voluntarily donate pads to support children whose parents are unable to provide them with enough menstrual pads during their period.
Dr. Josephine Kyei, Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana as guest speaker, stated that, individuals who are differently abled face challenges when it’s comes to menstrual hygiene.
She urged the general public especially men parents and teachers to understand their Challenges, adding that, we should continue to support to provides infrastructure and accessibilities in schools, workplace and wherever they find themselves going.
According to her, there is the need to continue with the education and awareness and advocate for policies that mandate inclusive and accessible menstrual health facilities.
She also advocate for government bodies, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Community organizations to work together to create guidelines and frameworks that would support the course.
She expressed optimism that, a period friendly world for the differently abled is achievable through collective efforts, empathy and dedication by addressing the unique challenges and providing the necessary support and resources, we can ensure that every individual regardless of your ability can manage menstruation with dignity.
Hannah Amponsah, the Ashanti Regional Girls Education Officer, said the region is not leaving the special girls behind, when it’s comes to menstrual hygiene for all girls.
She said the region is behind the Municipal for the laudable initiative with GAMA Sanitation Project, says there are so many things when it’s comes to managing menstruation, hence the Regional administration has initiatiated training of some districts on how to make re-usable sanitary pads and to also run similar programme for all the districts that were not part of the training to empower them on how to make the re-usable sanitary pads.
According to her, the re-usable pad would help those who can not afford the usable one because of the cost to go in for the re-usable sanitary pads for themselves and use it.
She disclosed that, the districts are to train all female students on how to make the re-usable sanitary pads to help tackle the issue of parents poverty seriously in the Ashanti region.
She urged all the districts officers to declare the region Parent Poverty Free (PPF) this year and years to come, adding that, with the support of benevolence and other organizations come a year or two,the whole region would not have a problem with poverty, poverty which are seriously working to achieve.
She noted that, if a parents are not able to support the children with the disposable sanitary pads, the single girl in Ashanti region would be able to make her own re-usable sanitary pads to enable her manage their menstruation hygienically with it.
