Instead of using sanitary pads, "many African boarding school girls living in poverty use rags, newspapers, or even mud to manage menstrual periods."--(Teutsch, 2014). None of these menstrual practices work well, and introduce HIV infections or injuries; they circumscribe women's movement, leading to school withdrawal. HWG is raising awareness by impacting 5000 African boarding school girls in 5 village areas of Sokoto State, Kware, Wurnu, S. South, Dange Shuni and S. North, in Northern Nigeria.
One out of 10 girls in Sub-Sahara African countries misses school during their menstrual period. "In fact, some small studies in Ghana and Uganda found that if you provide an African school girl with underwear and sanitary pads, her chances of staying in school are 30 to 50%. Hospitals Without Gaps (HWG) undertook Menstrual Health Surveys, in three boarding schools in villages of Sokoto State, which indicated critical needs of sanitary pads to the thousand of boarding school girls in the region.
Pads For All's purpose is to provide 5000 sanitary pads to the 5 boarding schools, 5000 educational materials and 120 knowledge sessions relating to sanitary pads for 1 year, and to greatly reduce infections and drop rate. This 5000 sanitary pads will educate boarding schools girls, their parents, the elders of the traditions, religious leaders, and the local and state government officials, about joint collaboration of this effort. All stakeholders will be invited to the all awareness ceremony.
The distribution 5000 sanitary pads will equally raise the fundamental awareness, by inviting potential nonprofit organizations to fully invest in this avenue of needs--5000 girls impact. When girls of the villages are educated, they will usually tend to educate the parents and friends, thereby making cyclical and positive impacts in their communities. Surveys will be taken to help measure the amount of girls' education, awareness, and additional challenges in contracts to the initial surveys.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
