His Excellency President Dr Julius Maada Bio has joined First Lady Madam Fatima Bio to commemorate International Menstrual Hygiene Day and start the country’s free sanitary pad distribution program for schoolgirls in 2022.
James Riak Mathiang, Country Director for GOAL Sierra Leone, said his organization had worked hard to enhance WASH facilities, and that menstrual hygiene was not only an important element of healthcare but also a safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practice.
He stated that girls and women require safe WASH facilities, affordable and long-lasting menstrual hygiene products, community leadership, information on best practices, and a stigma-free environment.
Dr. Babatunde Ahonsi, the UN Resident Coordinator, expressed the UN’s deep thanks for the effort and praised the First Lady’s transformative leadership in improving the menstrual health of Sierra Leone’s women and girls.
He also praised the government for its unwavering commitment to ensure that no one is left behind in the country’s development plan by adopting reproductive education, health, and rights programs.
Deborah Macauley, a Methodist Girls’ High School student, spoke on behalf of the free sanitary pad recipients, thanking the President and his government and portraying the First Lady as a compassionate mother.
She went on to say that before the campaign, the country was known for high reported cases of rape, teenage pregnancies, and early marriages, but that thanks to the First Lady’s intervention, the country was able to restore the hopes of every girl child, who had visited schools, districts, and regions.
President Bio’s wife, Fatima Bio, who introduced her husband as the keynote speaker, thanked him for giving a space and platform for women to participate in the country’s growth. She commended him for being unselfish and a true father to Sierra Leone’s children by offering free sanitary pads and a free high-quality education.
She went on to tell the boys that they should allow the girls to reach their full potential, to be educated and free, and to feel comfortable in their surroundings, and she thanked donor partners for giving the girls with sanitary pads.
President Dr Julius Maada Bio said in a statement that he was delighted to join the First Lady, development partners, and fellow Sierra Leoneans to commemorate the crucial International Menstrual Hygiene Day, adding that it was another historic opportunity to reflect on achievements thus far and make firm commitments to the campaign they began together some years ago.
“Clearly, we need more action on menstrual health. We should intensify public education on menstrual hygiene at schools and at the community levels. The objective is to change misinformation and negative attitudes toward periods. As previous speakers have indicated, fear, stigma, and shame associated with periods should not stop girls from going to school, from engaging in vocational education, from engaging in sports, and participating fully in public spaces and social activities.
“We have lifted the ban on pregnant girls in school because we believe that every girl, poor, pregnant, rural, living with a disability has an inalienable right to learn and be all that she can be. Equally so, we have introduced comprehensive sexuality education in schools so that girls learn about and know their bodies as they should.
“My Government is eager to work with development partners to continue making hygiene kits available for free to schoolgirls and affordable to women. Safe and hygienic use and disposal of those products should also be connected to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities, especially for girls in school. We are also eager to work with development partners to provide safe and exclusive WASH facilities at schools that will serve girls so that they are assured that even away from home, they can take care of themselves as well,” he said.