Ordinarily, menstruation is supposed to be a blessing to women of child-bearing age, as it is a sign of fertility. Even single ladies that engage in unprotected sex look forward to this once-in-a-month flow, especially when they’re not prepared to raise children. However, women have expressed concerns over the cost of sanitary pads and others as they strive hard amidst harsh economic realities to maintain sexual hygiene. PAUL OKAH reports.
Menstruation or menstrual flow is an inconvenience every woman of reproductive age has to endure for three to five days every month. It is a normal vaginal flow that occurs as part of a woman’s monthly cycle, as a woman’s body prepares for pregnancy between the ages of 12 and 45 or 55 years. The menstrual blood is partly blood and partly tissue from inside the uterus, which passes out of the body through the vagina. However, if no pregnancy occurs, the uterus or womb sheds its lining.
Therefore, it is regarded as abnormal for any woman within a reproductive age not to experience menstruation. In such a situation, parents of the girl-child usually visit the hospital for a proper medical assessment and treatment, as the situation is usually seen as a sign of infertility.
Even the ‘I missed my period’ used by women to announce the onset of pregnancy is either received with joy or sadness by men believed to be responsible for the pregnancy.
Nevertheless, when a woman stops menstruating, it is assumed that she has attained the age of menopause, which usually starts from 45 years onwards. At such a period, it is believed that she has exceeded child-bearing age or may no longer conceive through intercourse, except through artificial insemination.
How it works
Menstrual cycle and period are controlled by hormones like oestrogen and progesterone, which helps the female body to prepare for pregnancy every month and also makes a woman to have a period if she is not pregnant.
At some point during puberty, blood comes out of a woman’s vagina, and that’s her first period. Most people get their first period between the ages of 12 and 14, but some people get theirs earlier or later than that. There’s no way a lady will know when she will get it the first time, but she may feel some premenstrual syndrome (PMS) symptoms a few days before it happens.
Therefore, if a lady doesn’t get her period by the time she’s 16, experts usually suggest a visit to a doctor or nurse. Nevertheless, most people stop getting their periods when they are between 45 and 55 years old— when they approach menopause. Menopause can take a few years and periods usually change gradually during this time. However, after menopause is totally complete, a woman may no longer get pregnant through intercourse again.
Signs, experts’ admonition
Apart from bleeding from the vagina, a menstruating woman may have an abdominal or pelvic cramping pain, lower back pain, bloating and sore breasts, food cravings, mood swings and irritability, headache and fatigue. PMS is a group of symptoms that starts before the period and may include emotional and physical symptoms. Nevertheless, experts usually advise a woman to consult her health care provider if she has big changes in her cycle, as they may be signs of other problems that should be treated.
Financial implications
However, as positive and welcoming as menstruation is for many young women, they have lamented the cost of sanitary pads which they need every other month. Sanitary pads, which ladies use when menstruating, come in different makes and prices – the higher the quality or quantity, the costlier the price.
In the market, over the years, brands like Always, Diva, NDK, Ladycare, Molped, Virony, Longrich, Sofy, among other products abound with different prices, sizes, quality and quantity.
For instance, eight pieces of Always sanitary pad is sold for N300. Virony, which is 30 pieces, is sold between N800 and N1, 000, just as eight pieces of Ladycare go for N250. Due to the fact that some ladies experience ‘heavy flow’ during the three or four days of menstruation, many of them end up using more than eight pieces of sanitary pad.
As a result of the cost, many young girls and women have demanded that sanitary pads should be distributed free to women by government or the prices subsidised, as it will be cheaper instead of spending thousands of naira every month just in taking care of their reproductive health.
Reports from online sources show that many women across the federation, who cannot afford sanitary pads, especially in suburbs, use leaves, clothes or tissues as sanitary pads whenever they are menstruating, thereby endangering themselves and risking all forms of infection.
Foundation makes case
On Tuesday, May 28, this year, with the aim of raising awareness on menstruation and related issues, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Periods & More Resources (PMR), in collaboration with WaterAid Nigeria and Female Artistes Association of Nigeria (FEAAN), organised an art exhibition with the theme ‘A Gift of Blood.’
The event, which was organised to mark the World Menstrual Hygiene Day at Kulture Kode ArtHub in Abuja, attracted personalities from the Federal Ministries of Women Affairs, Water Resources, FCDA, civil society organisations, members of the diplomatic corps and the media.
The art exhibition, described as “first of its kind in Africa by participants, was aimed at helping to address the challenges young girls face regarding menstruation and issues pertaining to hygiene.
In her keynote address, the organiser, Nnenna Urom, said the major aim of the exhibition “is to showcase works in various medium that directly and indirectly addresses menstruation and also raise awareness on menstruation and related issues.”
She said, “We want to open the doors to an often-hidden topic and take a step in removing that stigma altogether by collaborating with artists for an exhibition that hopes to change the way we talk about period. Periods are a sign of good health and fertility and they shouldn’t be seen as such a bad thing.
“We are turning to art because whereas words and debates turn into screaming matches of who can be the loudest, art serves as a powerful tool to make people introspect, spark conversations and broaden mindsets on stigmatised subjects.”
Urom also said: “Thousands of girls in Nigeria do not attend school, due to taboos and stigma related to menstruation. Women and girls in rural settings and girls in schools suffer most from stigma and lack of services and facilities to help them cope with the physical and psychological pains they undergo during their menstrual periods, inadequate preparations for the young girls not yet experiencing menstruation.
“They suffer from lack of or inadequate water to clean and wash the body, lack of materials for menstrual hygiene, private space and wash rooms and inappropriate facilities for disposal of materials for those who have used pads. There is utmost need to break the social and cultural taboos associated with this natural development to enable young girls reach their full potential in life.”
NGO urges subsidy
Similarly, on May 25, this year, an NGO, Pad-Up Africa, urged the federal government to subsidise the cost of sanitary pads for girls in rural areas, just like condoms are offered freely in most of its hospitals.
While leading a sensitisation campaign to rake in one million pads for girls in Abuja, the founder of the NGO, Ashley Lori, said poverty had led so many young girls to use newspapers and rags as sanitary pads.
She said over 25,000 sanitary pads had been distributed to schools by her NGO, but that it was just a tip of the iceberg because of the high proportion of girls who use tissue papers, rags and even leaves in place of sanitary pads.
“We saw the need for girls having sanitary pads in schools, unlike boys having condoms for free. We believe that if you can give boys condoms for free, when sex is a choice, you should be able to give sanitary pads for free, because girls do not have a choice. Ours should be more mandatory in government policies to have them for free in schools, so that girls won’t miss out of school during their menstrual period.
“We have 62 schools in Abuja, we have reached 18 schools and have covered more than 35,000 girls. We have reached three IDP camps, two in Nasarawa state, one in Minna. We have distributed over 25,000 pads. We are looking at getting one million pads. Our aim is to make sure that government keys into this and see to the distribution of sanitary pads in schools,” she said.
According to Lori, “I was shocked to see four girls cluttering around a tree, and I saw blood on a paper. I discovered that one of the girls was trying to change her pad with a newspaper. Another girl told me that she wears up to six skirts and she keeps removing them as they get soaked in blood. And when it gets to the last one, she leaves the school easily, because it is not fenced.
“If sanitary pad is as low as N350, it should be affordable and accessible to girls. We sensitised a school in Nasarawa state and distributed pads. One of the girls told us that her mom refused to allow her use the sanitary pad because she doesn’t want us to get used to it; due to its high cost. We cannot sustain it. We are pushing for renewable pads. But, as it is, so many people like the conventional sanitary pads. If we make it affordable and biodegradable, it will be better for us.”
‘Flow with pride’
Another non-governmental organisation in Cross River state, Flow With Pride, says its target is to make sure that a girl-child receives at least a pad in each community across the state.
In a statement to Blueprint Weekend in Abuja, the Assistant Team leader of the organisation, Mr Sylvanus Ayerite, said it has covered many communities in the state within the month of June, this year.
The statement read in part: “My dearest team, Flow With Pride, within the last four months, has reached out to over 3,500 young girls in six public secondary schools covering Akpabuyo, Calabar Municipal and Calabar South LGAs – all in the Southern Part of Cross-River state. This month, we will move to Central Cross River with our next outreach to seven public secondary schools in Ugep, Yakurr LGA on the 28th of this month.
“We deeply appreciate all the support thus far from well meaning individuals and brands. We can’t over emphasise the need to educate these young ones on menstrual hygiene management. Young school girls are going through a whole lot due to their inability to purchase sanitary pads during their menstrual flow. They are off school during these times; hence they miss out on a whole lot academically.
“Why not buy a pad today to help keep her in school? The Flow With Pride initiative will be in Ugep LGA, Cross River state this month to touch lives. Please, support with sanitary pads, exercise books, pens and other school items. #padagirl #itstimeforaction #onegirlonepad #flowwithpride.”
CSO lends voice
In a chat with Blueprint Weekend, the executive director of Global Rights, Mrs Abiodun Baiyewu, said government must do all it can to make sure that the price of sanitary pads are subsidised for women, as well as provide an enabling environment for companies producing sanitary pads to thrive.
She said the majority of sanitary pads used by women are imported into the country, which she said was one of the reasons why their prices are usually high, even as she argued that it does not speak well of government when citizens import an “everyday necessity.”
“Poor people don’t go to school when they are menstruating, so government has to intervene by making sure that sanitary pads are either distributed free to girls or that quality pads are sold at cheap rates. A lot of pads are not environment friendly, as they are produced abroad and take years to decay, so what policies are government putting in place to checkmate the importation of these pads?
“Fortunately, bio-degradable pads are now being produced, but government must provide an enabling environment for our indigenous companies to thrive. CSOs also have to come in. It is disheartening that most laws are made to favour men, while the plight of women is not taken into consideration, due to the patriarchal stance of many African countries. In a nutshell, government owes it as duty to protect the rights and dignity of the poor and vulnerable in the society,” she said.
