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Numerous women and girls across Africa face a cycle of health risks as an effect of period poverty.
According to UN Women Africa, period poverty statistics in April 2020 stated that 66% of girls said they could not afford to buy menstrual products. This increases marginalization between groups and genders, perpetuating early marriage, and teenage pregnancies.
How We Are Changing Lives
Conducting awareness campaigns across schools in Uganda and Kenya and donating sanitary pads for girls and women.
Investing in training for girls and women in the community to make reusable pads, a cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution to period poverty.
Engaging local volunteers to raise awareness and train others to create reusable pads, empowering them with practical skills and self-reliance.
Leverage the expertise of medical professionals to educate girls and boys about sexual health in person or online.
Hurdles In The Way
- Girls who lack pads are often forced to use harmful substitutes for their hygiene products.
These materials can range from scraps of material, mattress stuffing, dirt, cow manure, and grass to manage their periods. This results in severe health issues like IUD complications and bladder infections.
- Girls and women often feel cornered to trade their bodies for sanitary pads.
UN Women reported that due to period poverty, schoolgirls engage in transactional sex to purchase sanitary pads for their menstrual cycles. This further contributes to the rising number of HIV/AIDS diagnoses and other dire health issues faced by these women.
- Without proper menstrual hygiene products, girls from less privileged backgrounds frequently feel isolated during menstruation.
The social stigma associated with periods and the lack of awareness regarding sex education can pose a challenge to navigating their day-to-day lives also affecting school attendance rates.
- Relying on disposable sanitary products is unaffordable and contributes to environmental waste.
This is why Girl Power USA focuses on developing sustainable solutions for menstrual hygiene to reduce period poverty. Our aim is to equip women with a source of income through the creation of cotton pads.
What We Have Achieved So Far
Girl Power USA has made significant strides in improving access to affordable and reusable sanitary products for women and girls in marginalized communities. We distributed 320 sanitary pads during educational events focused on menstrual hygiene and partnered with Country Child Network to provide 65 additional pads.
Our mission is to reduce period poverty by enhancing access to sanitary products and empowering women through skill development in sanitary kit production. This initiative not only fosters personal and economic empowerment but also creates income-generating opportunities for local women to produce and sell sanitary pads within their communities.
Our Associate Director, along with two partners, participated in a workshop on making reusable pads, marking the first step in establishing a sustainable program in Kenya and Uganda. Beyond supplying essential products, Girl Power USA conducts sessions on sexual and reproductive health, viewing this as a vital step in unlearning social stigmas and dismantling negative perceptions surrounding menstruation.
Lives
Transformed
320 pads
distributed to girls during education events on menstruation, increasing the awareness of menstrual hygiene and directly addressing the need for sanitary products.
65 girls
were provided with sanitary pads, addressing their direct need for hygiene products through the support of Girl Power USA and Country Child Network.
Partnerships
The Road Ahead for Girl Power USA
Purchase a sewing machine for our pad-making program in Uganda.
Purchase raw materials for our pad-making programs in Kenya and Uganda.
Sponsor more girls from schools and homes to attend professional workshops on pad-making.
Start a long-term investment in the agricultural field to grow the required material for the pad-making program.