A Ghanaian public school teacher called Mrs. Faith Senyo, has initiated a comprehensive three-in-one intervention model for proper menstrual hygiene for public schools in the country.
She stated that access to affordable and sustainable menstrual hygiene products (e.g. menstrual cloths, reusable pads, disposable pads, menstrual cups) is key to improving menstrual health and hygiene.
According to her, a holistic approach – one that combines education with infrastructure, products, and efforts to tackle the societal taboos and stigma surrounding the issue — is most successful in achieving good menstrual health hygiene and improving development outcomes for women and adolescent girls.
The teacher who teaches at Greta D Shepherd 2 Basic School at Awoshie in the Ga Central Municipality said she was unsatisfied about girls not having supplementary pads to change when they stained in school so she developed a pad bank that serves as a haven to host ample supply of pads for schools especially vulnerable ones.
She developed a calendar to aid the school girls to track their menstrual period.
As part of her intervention model, she donated emergency periods to help girls to “change when they stained and go back to class.”
To ensure safe changing spaces for girls, the teacher refurbished an old structure at the Odorgonno Model Basic School school for girls to change during their menstrual period.
She donated her sanitary pad bank stocked with sanitary pads to the Mampong School for the Deaf and the Adidome E.P Primary School as well as the Ho prison.
Senyo, therefore, called the government to take off what she refers to as a ‘luxury tax’ on sanitary pads to make them affordable for women and young girls.
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