Mrs Soludo sets up pad banks in 300 Anambra schools to support girls facing menstrual hygiene

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Dr. Mrs. Money Soludo

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By Madu Obi

The wife of the Anambra State governor, Dr. Nonye Soludo has called for the intensification of campaign to reach out to women and girls facing menstrual hygiene challenges, as she sets up pad banks in 300 Anambra schools.

In a message to mark this year's World Menstrual Hygiene Day, Mrs Soludo said that her pet project, the Healthy Living Pad Bank Initiative, which began in 2024, has now been fully established in the schools.

This, she stated, is her own approach to help school girls whose academic focus could be affected during menstruation and related emergencies.

She noted that with the increasing number of girls who need urgent solutions to menstrual needs, it has become imperative for stakeholders to re-strategize their approach to the campaign.

Official data shows that an estimated 37 million women and girls in Nigeria are unable to afford sanitary pads and therefore rely on unhygienic alternatives.

The data amplified an official finding from the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) which revealed that major gaps in water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure create barriers for women and girls to manage menstruation safely and with dignity.

The data also shows that only two in five schools globally offer menstrual health education, while just one in three have bins for menstrual waste.

According to the governor's wife, these numbers pose a great question to important stakeholders to find more practical means to get to the root of the problem while the statistics are still within the reversal reach.

She noted that healthy menstrual health remains the right of every girl child, and insisted that menstrual-related absenteeism in schools also calls for more collaborative measures that take the needs of the primary option seriously.

The governor's wife also stated that she was intentional about establishing the pad banks in more schools in the state, noting that with hygiene being a major pillar of her Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo movement, she wants to ensure that menstrual emergencies in schools are met with immediate solutions, while school girls who suddenly get caught up would find confidence in working pad banks.

She further urged that advocacy for menstrual hygiene should go beyond yearly campaigns that immediately die off, stating that the campaign must take up hands-on strategies that accommodate education, awareness and action.

Dr Soludo also stated that every intending action should first understand the existing gaps, prioritize vulnerable domains and remain consistent with strategies and push, adding that her pad bank programme is targeting a complete establishment system that will completely reduce the menstrual hygiene imbalance in Anambra State to zero.

"Hygiene is a key pillar of the Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo Initiative, and has received massive attention that has driven the overall figures down from what they used to be since the programme was introduced a few months ago", she said.

She urged every girl child in the designated schools for the pad bank project to always access them with full confidence, as her NGO is always ready to refill any pad bank that runs out of sanitary products.