By Perpetua Egesimba
Young women have been advised to make menstrual hygiene and management their priority, in order to live healthy lives and have excellent reproductive health.
This was the highpoint of a lecture for female students of Reagan Memorial Baptist Girls Secondary School, Yaba, Lagos organised by a non-governmental organisation, the Coast of Help Foundation in commemoration of the International Day for the Girl Child.
At the event, the students received, apart from the lecture, free sanitary napkins and panty liners, among others donated by Bioscience International, a brand partner of Longrich.
Speaking at the event, the founder of the Coast of Help Foundation, Ifeanyi Odiaka, said the event was to teach the girls how to maintain personal hygiene, especially during menstruation and also let them know that they possess what it takes to be extremely successful in the future.
“The health of the girl child is very important and that is why we want to let them know how to take care of themselves, especially during menstruation because if not properly managed could lead to infection,” he said.
Emmanuel Eduru from Bioscience International said, they wanted to prepare the minds of the girls, especially those who have not yet reached puberty stage.
He said: “We want to make them understand that it is not all about attaining puberty but let them know that there are certain things they need to start doing before getting to that stage.
“We also want to showcase how they can identify sanitary napkins that will create problems for them because, according to World Health Organisation, in its survey report in 2008, it was discovered that over 62 per cent of gynecological disease among women is caused by the poor quality sanitary napkins in the market.”
He said women’s health was important, emphasising that and if they don’t have enough information on menstrual hygiene management, it could create problems for them, which might affect them in marriage.
“For example, when a woman does not have a proper menstrual hygiene in a particular month, she develops infection and if not properly handled, it keeps developing and gets to a stage where the body becomes immune to antibiotics. The infection then gravitates to a stage where it leads to hormonal imbalance. From there, fertility issue sets in,” he said.
Project Coordinator of the Coast of Help Foundation, Solomon Okonkwo said every girl child should be properly be taken care of by parents or guidance.
One of the students, Balogun Aaliya, a JSS3 student, said she learnt a lot from the lecture, including how to keep personal hygiene and the procedures to take during menstruation.