Slum Girls: End Period Poverty in Nairobi slums!

Once again this year we take the field against the scourge of Period Poverty, dedicating its month of May to the health and rights of girls in Nairobi.

The scourge of Period Poverty
Period Poverty is the inability of women to ensure proper hygiene during menstruation for economic reasons.
This includes both the inability to use sanitary devices and to have access to adequate sanitary facilities.

This phenomenon, which is also present in Western countries, is particularly prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty and economic inequality are greatest.
In Kenya, more than half of the population is female.

In particular, girls and women living in the slums of Nairobi and those belonging to the Maasai community cannot afford to buy sanitary pads or other hygiene products (wet wipes, detergents) and do not have access to adequate and clean toilets.

During menstruation, girls and young women are therefore forced to stay locked in shacks, isolated and unable to go to school. Period Poverty also has the serious consequence of preventing girls and young women from attending school, causing them to enter a vicious circle of poverty and ignorance from which it is difficult to escape. Every month a girl from the slums misses a whole week of school because of her menstrual cycle. A quarter of the total school days of an entire school year, which lasts about nine months.

A Period Poverty child cannot leave her shack during her menstrual cycle, missing about a quarter of her school days and seriously jeopardising her future.

This is precisely why we dedicate the month of May to protecting the rights of girls in Nairobi.
Thanks to our solidarity marathon and especially to all those who will support it, we will bring 5000 menstrual hygiene kits to girls in the slums.