Access to Menstrual Products in East Africa

March 8th is International Women’s Day; women across the world use this as an opportunity to raise awareness and rights gaps, and also organizers use the day to celebrate the progress and achievements of individual women; it gives us a moment to stop for a moment, reflect and learn something new and maybe carve a time for us to take some actions towards the lessons from the reflection.

Commemorating this day is among the essential issue in advancing gender equity, celebrating women’s achievements, raising awareness about discrimination, and taking action to drive gender parity. In humanitarian crises, women frequently experience more adverse effects than men, such as gender-based violence or an impact on their sexual and reproductive health.

Through research and education, Femme International plays a key role in advancing gender equity in humanitarian settings; we are championing our research partners’ and grantees’ roles in advancing gender equity. As an organization, Femme embraces equity by working to create a sustainable future for the health and well-being of the young generation in Tanzania. 

International Women’s Day is one of Femme International’s favourite days as we celebrate women in all spheres of social-cultural, economic and political development.

Femme International has worked with stakeholders to ensure all menstruators have equal access to opportunities and possibilities. Various activities were done from January to March, centred on increasing awareness about menstrual health management among community members. The location where the activities were implemented was Kilimanjaro and Mwanza regions

In commemoration of International Women's Day, Femme International in collaboration with Mwanza Regional Local government and other local NGOs conducted different activities in the Kwimba district in the Mwanza region. The organization provided menstrual health education to 6 women, 5 prison women, and  1 prison guard at Kwimba prisons. Not only that but also femme international distributed menstrual health products to guards and diapers for a one-year child whose mother is among the women in Kwimba prison.

Also, in changing girls' narratives about menstrual health management, we provided menstrual health management education to girls from Bujiku Sakila secondary school in Kwimba. They were distributed with the workbook to help them review what they learned about menstrual health management. About 43 girls were reached.

Community Outreach; Various community outreaches have been conducted in Mwanza and Kilimanjaro; our main aim was to raise awareness among other groups of women about  Menstrual Sexual Reproductive Health Rights. In Mwanza, Femme trained  33 young girls aged  16-22 who are basketballers on managing their periods and different kinds of menstrual products. The girls were so excited to receive menstrual cups distributed after training. Various questions were asked, including the safe days, how to manage pain when menstruating, and if menstrual cups can remove virginity.

In Kilimanjaro, the community outreaches were done to unprivileged Maasaini community women in the the Mikocheni village in Arusha Chini ward; about  22  women were taught about menstrual health management. In this session, women need more information about menstrual health management, including education and menstrual health products. Most of these women cannot afford sanitary pads for period management.

Medicine Distribution; This quarter we managed to distribute pain relief medication to secondary students of Nkolati, Nyakabungo, Nyak, Grandma, and Mamaye. Each school received  44 boxes of paracetamol  and  30 boxes of Ibrufen. Our goal is to ensure girls stay in school when they menstruate, hence decreasing their absence during menstruation; as narrated by other research, girls fail to come to school during menstruation because of pain.

Connect with us through our social media Instagram to learn further about the work we do on women's and girls' rights, menstruation and sexual reproductive health rights to build an equitable community of great and strong generations.

It's not rocket science, It's a PERIOD! 

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