Some 2004 primary school girls in West Pokot County will benefit from a free menstrual hygiene kit from the Beyond Zero Initiative during a three-day campaign aimed at encouraging girls to go to school rather than stay at home due to period poverty.
Each of the girls in ten primary schools in Pokot North Sub County will receive a dignity kit containing a sanitary towel, soap, and petroleum jelly for a period of one year in line with the Beyond Zero Initiative strategic plan for 2023 to 2027.
During the distribution of the menstrual hygiene kit, the girls will also be taken through life skills talks courtesy of the Beyond Zero Initiative and the Ministry of Health.
West Pokot County Reproductive Health Coordinator Ms. Consolata Siree, while receiving the donation on behalf of the county Health Executive Committee Member (CECM), said the effort aimed at supporting girls’ education.
‘‘Menstrual hygiene kits will help to improve the sanitation and healthcare of the school-going girls and, in the process, boost their class attendance.
She went on: ”We are distributing dignity kits containing sanitary towels, soap, and petroleum jelly to ten primary schools as follows: 200 to Kacheliba mixed, 588 to Kacheliba girls, 100 to Asilong, 150 to Ngengechwa, 59 to Orolwo, 87 to Lokihar, 316 to AIC Kodich, 185 to Catholic Kodich, 233 to Arid Zone Konyao, and 86 to Ngotutu Primary School,” Siree said.
She said the sanitary towel donations will relieve the girls of the stigma associated with periods.
According to West Pokot County Director of Nursing Services, Ms. Dinah Poghisho, the donations will help to eradicate the challenges school-going girls from vulnerable backgrounds experience while accessing sanitary towels for use during their monthly periods.
Ms. Poghisho said that the donations give the girls an opportunity to interact with their peers during periods without the shame associated with periods, and she urged the beneficiaries to maintain menstrual hygiene in school and at home now that they have no excuse not to do so.
‘‘Menstrual hygiene kits secure girl child education, and they can freely interact with the boys in school without period stigma,” Ms. Poghisho said.
By Anthony Melly
