Menstrual poverty remains a major barrier to the health, dignity, and educational progress of girls, particularly in rural and underserved communities.
Many girls with no available option often resort to unsafe and unhygienic alternatives—such as rags, newspapers, or leaves—due to an inability to afford sanitary products.
In a significant stride towards ending menstrual poverty and promoting safe menstruation, AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine together with their partners: Underground Mining Aliance, AGA Malaria control, Pamicor, and JACHRIS, have supported 5,000 public basic school girls with 15,000 non-reusable sanitary pads and 2,100 reusable pads.
The donation was preceded by an intensive public health education by the company and their partners for public basic schools in a durbar in Obuasi to mark World Menstrual Hygiene Day.
The initiative spearheaded by AngloGold Ashanti has been hailed by stakeholders, including Nana Afia Twumwaa Tia, Obaapanin of Nkamprom, a suburb of Obuasi. She said challenges facing girls during menstruation significantly affect their confidence, self-esteem, and their attendance in school.
She averred that such challenges demand a holistic approach like one adopted by AGA to stem the tide.
She admonished girls to prioritise their menstrual health and accept that menstruation should not be a barrier to their educational success.
” Menstruation is a normal physiological process every woman goes through. This should not be a hindrance to your academic pursuit. Don’t stay feel shy about menstruation, go to school and live your normal lives. I encourage parents to help their children go through this process seemlessly. “
In her remarks, the Social Development and Gender Superintendent Mavis Nana Yaa Kyei, who represented the Community Relations Manager, touched on the need to eschew all forms of stigmatization and discrimination associated with menstruation.
She said the time has come for a collaborative approach in dealing with issues like Menstrual poverty and correcting all forms of misconceptions which have been a draw back in the efforts to ensure safe, healthy and clean menstruation.
Miss Kyei further mentioned that aside the provision of pads and in-person engagements, the Obuasi Mine had facilitated the training of over 100 girl-child coordinators in adolescent reproductive health to equip them with the requisite technical and soft skills to properly engage and educate adolescent schoolgirls about their sexual and reproductive health and hygiene, including ways to boost their confidence and decrease anxiety during this stage of growing up.
Andrea Hall, a Board Member of Perenti( UMA), highlighted the importance of demystifying issues of menstrual hygiene. She stressed the need for stakeholders to intensify sensitization on menstruation for both girls and boys to understand it as a natural process women go through.